AT&T shares slide after a tough year, but investors are weighing fiber, wireless traction and 2026 targets

AT&T’s stock has fallen about 27.5% over the past year, according to market coverage that placed the decline against the Wireless National industry’s roughly 21.7% drop. The selloff has left AT&T trading at a discount relative to some peers, with the same coverage noting weaker performance versus Verizon Communications and T-Mobile US over the same stretch.

Behind the narrative is a balance sheet and a business strategy that cuts across both wireless and fiber. AT&T has leaned on network investment and cost initiatives, but investors are also weighing the company’s heavy spending needs and the drag that leverage can create when markets tighten.

On the wireless side, the coverage cited a quarterly addition of 294,000 postpaid phone subscribers. It also pointed to postpaid churn of 0.89%, a metric that reflects how many customers leave the service each period, and is typically watched as a announcement of customer retention strength.

For enterprises and data-heavy customers, AT&T highlighted an expansion of 400G connectivity to more than 40 U.S. metro areas. In the same reporting, the company’s 400G reach was described as covering 440,000 properties serving more than 2.3 million business tenants, framed as an “AI-ready” upgrade designed to support high-capacity networking needs.

AT&T’s fiber strategy is likewise central to the argument that the stock has been punished in advance of measurable results. The coverage said AT&T completed the Lumen fiber acquisition during the first quarter ahead of schedule, adding 1.1 million fiber customers and more than 4 million fiber locations. The goal is to strengthen its fixed-broadband footprint while also giving it more assets to sell to businesses and communities that need faster connections.

Alongside those operational points, AT&T reaffirmed its 2026 outlook in the reporting cited. The company is targeting 3% to 4% adjusted EBITDA growth in 2026, and it projected free cash flow of more than $18 billion in 2026, more than $19 billion in 2027, and more than $21 billion in 2028. The company also reiterated a cost-reduction plan tied to achieving $4 billion in annual savings by 2028, with the approach described as including automation and digitalization efforts.

Still, the market is not simply reacting to network headlines. Telecom investors routinely focus on whether spending can be financed without undermining cash generation, and whether subscriber gains in wireless and customer growth in fiber translate into sustained earnings power. The coverage explicitly framed the debate as “buying in the dip,” but it did not provide new primary financial disclosures in the excerpted material beyond the guidance figures and operational updates.

The company’s full position, including how it expects competition to affect pricing and how it will manage capital intensity across both wireless and fiber, was not laid out in the market summary. For readers, the next key question is whether upcoming results will show the promised cash-flow ramp and subscriber performance translating into improved investor confidence, or whether the spending cycle and debt concerns will keep limiting the stock’s upside.