AT&T Raises 2026 Outlook as Dell AI Adoption Tops 6,500

AT&T lifted its 2026 adjusted earnings outlook after third-quarter revenue grew, while Philip Morris International and Moody’s Corporation also posted results and Dell expanded its enterprise AI offerings. The results cover the quarter ended Sept. 30 and were released Wednesday, Oct. 21.

AT&T revenue increased 5.3% from a year earlier to $32.3 billion. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations fell to $0.13 from $1.29, while adjusted earnings per share rose to $0.65 from $0.54. The quarter included a noncash impairment of $2.6 billion related to AT&T’s planned sale of its Mexico wireless business. The company raised its 2026 adjusted earnings-per-share outlook to about $2.40, from a previous range of $2.25 to $2.35.

Philip Morris International’s third-quarter net revenues rose 5.5% to $11.4 billion. Reported diluted earnings per share declined 4.9% to $2.12, while adjusted diluted earnings per share climbed 5.4% to $2.36. Its full-year adjusted earnings-per-share forecast is $8.29 to $8.44 at prevailing exchange rates and $8.11 to $8.26 excluding currency. The results follow earlier coverage of the company’s scheduled quarterly report.

Moody’s revenue rose 1% to $2.023 billion. Diluted earnings per share increased 18% to $4.24, and adjusted diluted earnings per share rose 6% to $4.14. Moody’s reaffirmed its 2026 adjusted earnings-per-share forecast of $16.50 to $17.00.

Dell Technologies announced new enterprise AI products and deployment templates. It said more than 6,500 enterprises had adopted the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, up from 5,000 in the prior quarter. Dell’s Deskside Agentic AI reference templates are designed to scale autonomous AI from a single developer to enterprise-wide deployments of 1,000 or more systems.