AT&T falls 6.5% after raising its outlook; TI revenue jumps 28%, Lam guides to $8.6 billion

Four large companies reported on Wednesday, October 21, and the headline numbers were good at every one of them. The stock reactions were not uniform. AT&T, which reported before the open, closed down 6.45% at $21.91 on volume of about 84.5 million shares, according to Nasdaq quote data. IBM, Texas Instruments and Lam Research reported after the close. Here is each result from the company's own filing, with the estimate where we could confirm one.

IBM: revenue and profit beat, free cash flow forecast raised

IBM reported revenue of $17.1 billion, up 5% (6% at constant currency). CNBC put the LSEG consensus at $16.82 billion in revenue and $2.86 in adjusted earnings per share; IBM reported $2.95 adjusted. Software revenue rose 8%, infrastructure 4%, and consulting was flat.

The detail worth noting is margin. GAAP gross margin was 56.8%, down 50 basis points, and CNBC reported it was narrower than expected. IBM kept its full-year constant-currency revenue growth forecast at 4% to 5% and now expects free cash flow to rise by more than $1 billion this year, against roughly $1 billion in July.

Texas Instruments: 28% growth, but the guide is flat

TI reported revenue of $6.06 billion, up 28% from a year ago and 11% from the second quarter, with earnings per share of $2.62 against $1.48 a year earlier. Operating profit rose 73% to $2.87 billion. Zacks put the expected figures at about $2.40 and $5.93 billion, via Yahoo Finance.

The number behind the number is the outlook. TI guided fourth-quarter revenue to $5.80 billion to $6.30 billion, a midpoint of $6.05 billion, essentially the same as the quarter just reported. After an 11% sequential jump, the company is guiding to a pause at the midpoint, with a wide range around it. Trailing 12-month free cash flow was $8.42 billion, up from $2.42 billion a year earlier.

Lam Research: record quarter, and China is 35% of sales

Lam reported revenue of $8.22 billion, up 22% from the June quarter's $6.72 billion and about 54% from $5.32 billion a year earlier. Systems revenue was $5.73 billion, against $3.55 billion a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings were $2.20 per share on a 40.2% operating margin.

Guidance for the December quarter is revenue of $8.60 billion plus or minus $400 million, and non-GAAP earnings of $2.33 plus or minus $0.15. The low end of that revenue range is $8.2 billion, which is roughly the quarter just reported. China accounted for 35% of revenue, Korea 20% and Taiwan 18%, so one customer region carries more than a third of the business.

AT&T: a raised outlook, an impairment, and a 6.45% drop

AT&T's release showed revenue of $32.3 billion, up 5.3%, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.65 against $0.54 a year ago. GAAP earnings were only $0.13 per share because of a $0.41 per share non-cash impairment on its held-for-sale Mexico wireless business ($2.6 billion), plus separation charges. Year-ago GAAP earnings of $1.29 included a gain on the DIRECTV investment sale.

Customer numbers were strong: 379,000 postpaid phone net adds with churn of 0.92%, and a record 769,000 internet net adds (442,000 fiber, 327,000 fixed wireless). Free cash flow was $5.0 billion versus $4.9 billion. AT&T raised its 2026 adjusted EPS outlook to the "$2.40 range" and lowered its long-term capital investment outlook.

We could not confirm a verified consensus estimate for adjusted earnings or a stated reason for the decline, so we do not offer one. A raised outlook and a 6.45% drop on the same day is the thing to watch in the coming sessions.

About the after-hours moves

Reports of extended-trading moves for IBM, TI and Lam conflicted. CNBC said IBM slipped after hours; Zacks said it was up about 3.5% and TI was marginally lower. We are not quoting figures we could not reconcile. Regular-session closes on Wednesday, per Nasdaq quote data: IBM +3.94% at $251.46, TI +2.47% at $284.65, Lam -1.00% at $260.81. Check live quotes before the open.

Sources: company earnings releases filed with the SEC (links above); CNBC; Zacks via Yahoo Finance; Nasdaq quote data (not real-time). Meta's results were covered in our earlier story. This is market information, not investment advice.