CenturyLink (CTL) Tops Q4 EPS by 5c, Offers FY Guidance, to Cut Dividend

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) reported Q4 EPS of $0.37, $0.05 better than the analyst estimate of $0.32. Revenue for the quarter came in at $5.78 billion versus the consensus estimate of $5.78 billion.

2019 Business Outlook

"Looking to 2019, we expect to continue to grow Adjusted EBITDA and expand Adjusted EBITDA margins," said Neel Dev, CenturyLink's executive vice president and chief financial officer. "From a starting point of $8.94 billion, which excludes approximately $100 million of Adjusted EBITDA associated with the new lease accounting standard, we expect Adjusted EBITDA to grow to $9.0 to $9.2 billion for the full year 2019.

"Beyond the $850 million of acquisition-related synergies we have already captured, we expect to realize an additional $800 million to $1.0 billion of run-rate Adjusted EBITDA synergies and transformation savings over the next three years. We expect to incur $450 to $650 million in one-time costs to achieve these savings."

Dividend and Capital Allocation Update

After extensive review, the Board of Directors plans to reduce the company's annual dividend to $1.00 from $2.16, beginning with the Board's next dividend declaration. Under this revised capital allocation policy, the company plans to reduce the net leverage target to a range of 2.75x to 3.25x in a specified timeframe of approximately three years and continue to fund its growth and transformation initiatives. The company expects to return more than $1 billion annually to shareholders through the $1.00 annual dividend.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on CenturyLink (CTL) click here.

You May Also Be Interested In

• Diana Shipping withdraws bid to acquire Genco Shipping
• Old Republic (ORI) Declares $0.315 Quarterly Dividend; 2.9% Yield
• Reading (RDI) Tops Q2 EPS by 4c