BNP Paribas raises AT&T price target to $30

On September 21, BNP Paribas upgraded AT&T to Outperform from Neutral and raised its price target on the stock from $26 to $30. The firm pointed to a more rational competitive landscape in the US wireless sector, marked by lower handset subsidies and well-received rate hikes. According to BNP, these factors should accelerate wireless service revenue growth in the second half of 2026.

The analyst firm noted that sustained expansion in average revenue per user could generate a couple of billion dollars in incremental annual revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow over time. Following the upgrade announcement, AT&T shares gained 1% in premarket trading to reach $25.57.

Operational momentum included 432,000 postpaid phone net additions alongside 646,000 broadband additions, divided into 367,000 fiber lines and 279,000 fixed wireless connections. AT&T reached 38.6 million fiber locations, keeping it on track to surpass 40 million by the end of 2026. The company generated $4.7 billion in quarterly free cash flow and expects more than $18 billion in free cash flow for full-year 2026, supporting plans to return over $45 billion to shareholders through 2028, including $10 billion in 2026 share buybacks.

Balance sheet debt and legacy phaseouts remain key challenges. AT&T ended the second quarter of 2026 with $144.0 billion in total debt and $126.4 billion in net debt, aiming to lower leverage toward 2.5 times over three years. Annual capital investments are budgeted at $23 billion to $24 billion through 2028. Meanwhile, legacy service revenues face an accelerated decline of more than 20% in 2026 as AT&T shuts down its copper network by 2029, with legacy EBITDA projected to turn negative after 2027.