Investing.com - Telecom stocks took a tumble in midday trading Wednesday as concerns about AT&T’s results hit the stock hard.
AT&T (NYSE:T) fell 4.5% as of 11:55 AM ET (15:55 GMT) on revenue numbers for its latest quarter. The company reported earnings after the bell Tuesday.
"None of their businesses are performing well," Jonathan Chaplin, analyst at New Street Research, told Reuters. "Apart from the one that they only owned for 16 days (Time Warner), the only one that isn’t shrinking is wireless. And wireless isn't growing, it just isn't shrinking anymore. Less bad isn’t the same as good."
AT&T was among the biggest losers in the S&P Telecom Sector index, which was down 2.4%.
Other notably struggling issues included NETGEAR (NASDAQ:NTGR), which has been hit since issuing weak guidance on Monday and was down about 3% today, Frontier Communications (NASDAQ:FTR), which lost about 5%, and Cincinnati Bell (NYSE:CBB), which fell more than 6%.
But AT&T competitors Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) were in the green.
The strongest sector in midday trading was real estate, despite disappointing data on new home sales.
The S&P Real Estate Sector index gained 0.9%, with Regency Centers (NYSE:REG), up about 3%, and Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR), up 2.7%, leading the way.