Verizon's stock climbed 4% in premarket trading Friday following its second-quarter earnings report that revealed a notable surge in subscriber additions, far exceeding market expectations.

The telecom giant added 184,000 postpaid phone net subscribers during the quarter, nearly doubling the analyst consensus of 106,000. This marks a significant turnaround compared to the same period last year, when Verizon experienced a net loss in subscriber count.

Mixed Revenue and Profit Results

Despite the subscriber growth, revenue slipped 0.7% year over year to $34.3 billion, falling short of the $35.2 billion forecast. Verizon attributed this decline largely to a nearly 20% drop in equipment revenue, as customers are holding onto their devices longer and the company has reduced device subsidies.

Adjusted earnings per share landed at $1.30, beating estimates of $1.28 and rising 6.6% compared to the previous year. However, net income dropped sharply to $3.95 billion from $5.12 billion a year earlier, weighed down by $1.8 billion in pretax special charges. The largest of these was a $746 million loss linked to Verizon's new joint venture with BT Group, formed last month to combine their international operations.

Verizon also added 348,000 net broadband connections in the quarter, with combined mobility and broadband service revenue growing 2.8% to $23.4 billion. The company now expects this growth to approach 3% in the third quarter and reach around 4% by year-end.

Following the strong subscriber trends, Verizon raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to between $4.99 and $5.04, up from the previous range of $4.95 to $4.99. The mobility and broadband service revenue growth forecast was also increased to 2.5% 3%, from the prior 2% 3% outlook. The company reaffirmed its retail postpaid phone net additions guidance of 875,000 to 1 million for the full year.

Last week, Verizon announced plans to cut roughly 3,000 jobs and transfer hundreds of retail stores to franchise owners, including about 500 corporate positions. CEO Dan Schulman highlighted the company's focused approach to balancing subscriber growth with disciplined cost management.