AT&T key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, AT&T had return on equity of 17.9%, an operating margin of 19.2%, debt equal to 114.1% of equity and a current ratio of 0.91. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Dec 2009 | 2010Dec 2010 | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMSept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 58.7% | 59.6% | 56.7% | 56.7% | 60.0% | 54.2% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating margin | 17.1% | 15.7% | 7.3% | 10.2% | 23.9% | 9.2% | 16.9% | 14.4% | 12.4% | 15.3% | 15.4% | 5.9% | 19.3% | −3.8% | 19.2% | 15.6% | 19.2% | 18.3% |
| Net margin | 9.9% | 16.0% | 3.1% | 5.7% | 14.3% | 4.9% | 9.1% | 7.9% | 18.3% | 11.3% | 7.7% | −3.6% | 15.0% | −7.1% | 11.8% | 8.9% | 17.5% | 10.2% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 14.6% | 12.6% | 11.5% | 15.5% | 10.8% | 7.7% | 11.4% | 10.3% | 10.8% | 13.1% | 16.0% | 19.9% | 19.7% | 13.4% | 16.7% | 15.1% | 15.5% | 13.8% |
| Return on equity | 11.9% | 18.6% | 3.6% | 7.2% | 19.4% | 7.0% | 12.5% | 10.5% | 22.1% | 11.5% | 7.0% | −2.7% | 11.1% | −5.9% | 12.9% | 9.3% | 17.9% | 10.5% |
| Return on assets | 4.5% | 7.4% | 1.5% | 2.7% | 6.7% | 2.2% | 3.8% | 3.2% | 6.9% | 4.0% | 2.6% | −1.0% | 3.7% | −1.8% | 3.6% | 2.7% | 5.4% | 3.0% |
| Asset turnover | 0.46 | 0.46 | 0.47 | 0.47 | 0.47 | 0.46 | 0.42 | 0.41 | 0.38 | 0.35 | 0.33 | 0.27 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.30 | 0.31 | 0.31 | 0.30 |
| Current ratio | 0.68 | 0.60 | 0.74 | 0.71 | 0.66 | 0.90 | 0.75 | 0.76 | 0.97 | 0.80 | 0.79 | 0.82 | 1.61 | 0.59 | 0.71 | 0.67 | 0.91 | 0.87 |
| Debt to equity | 70.7% | 59.1% | 61.2% | 73.0% | 79.0% | 90.7% | 102.0% | 99.5% | 115.7% | 91.0% | 81.5% | 92.3% | 96.7% | 134.6% | 122.1% | 111.5% | 114.1% | 130.0% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 6.2x | 6.5x | 2.6x | 3.8x | 7.8x | 3.4x | 6.0x | 4.8x | 3.2x | 3.3x | 3.3x | 1.1x | 3.9x | n/m | 3.5x | 2.8x | 3.6x | 3.2x |
| Effective tax rate | 32.9% | −6.4% | 37.7% | 27.8% | 33.3% | 34.9% | 33.9% | 32.7% | — | 19.8% | 18.9% | — | 18.5% | — | 21.3% | 26.6% | 13.4% | 19.0% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 25.6% | 28.2% | 32.6% | 32.2% | 22.1% | 30.0% | 22.4% | 22.5% | 22.1% | 21.5% | 21.8% | 21.5% | 22.1% | 24.0% | 23.6% | 23.2% | 23.0% | 22.8% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 13.5% | 15.7% | 15.9% | 15.3% | 16.3% | 16.0% | 13.1% | 13.1% | 12.9% | 12.4% | 10.8% | 10.3% | 11.6% | 16.3% | 14.6% | 16.6% | 16.6% | 17.4% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 147.1% | 79.0% | 371.0% | 271.4% | 75.2% | 157.4% | 124.9% | 130.4% | 59.0% | 115.4% | 208.8% | — | 131.5% | — | 142.1% | 169.1% | 88.6% | 135.6% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 79.7% | 49.9% | 257.9% | 141.0% | 52.6% | 148.3% | 76.4% | 90.9% | 40.9% | 69.2% | 107.1% | — | 75.0% | — | 56.5% | 75.0% | 37.3% | 60.4% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 54.2% | 63.2% | 69.5% | 116.7% | 164.0% | 110.2% | 62.8% | 72.7% | 72.0% | 62.7% | 59.6% | 71.9% | 57.8% | 66.4% | 40.7% | 45.5% | 65.2% | 96.8% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 | 2026 Q3Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin | 16.5% | 18.8% | 21.1% | 19.9% | 17.3% | 21.1% | 22.3% | 12.7% |
| Net margin | 12.6% | 14.2% | 14.6% | 30.3% | 11.3% | 12.2% | 14.7% | 2.8% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 15.6% | 15.6% | 15.8% | 17.1% | 13.6% | 8.6% | 16.2% | 16.9% |
| Current ratio | 0.67 | 0.70 | 0.81 | 1.01 | 0.91 | 0.92 | 0.97 | 0.87 |
| Debt to equity | 107.6% | 105.3% | 109.0% | 110.0% | 113.6% | 110.2% | 113.9% | 130.0% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 22.9% | 23.3% | 22.5% | 24.3% | 22.1% | 23.2% | 22.9% | 23.0% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $52.3bn of assets due within a year against $60.3bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
- More cash than debt $10.8bn of cash against $159.6bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 130% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 97% to 130% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $40.2bn of operating cash flow against $159.6bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $23.6bn against $7.5bn of interest.
Moat
Moderate moat
How hard AT&T's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 18 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 13.4% of total assets over 6 years.
- Pricing power 19 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 57.3%, moving by 2.6 percentage points (standard deviation) across 7 years.
- Durability 4 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 15.1%; its worst year was -2.4%.
- Cash conversion 18 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 15.8% of revenue.
- Discipline 15 / 20
The diluted share count fell 9.3% over five years.
AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (73 before it).
Compare with peers
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