Ma Bell's New Act

Ma Bell's New Act Tomorrow's earnings highlight could come from AT&T, which will have plenty of its own data to report about streaming from its HBO Max service, along with the latest on 5G and our broader communications habits. AT&T stock has remained an underperformer of late, up 4.7% on the year versus 11% for the S&P 500.   Nicholas Jasinski looked ahead to Ma Bell's first-quarter report and notes that HBO Max -- a chief rival to Netflix -- might be the only thing investors care about:  The streaming service stole the show at an investor day AT&T hosted last month, with a significantly higher long-term subscriber target the key takeaway from the event. Management said that they expect to have up to 150 million streaming subscribers on HBO and HBO Max by 2025, versus a previous forecast—from late 2019—of up to 90 million. Nick says AT&T management is sure to reiterate support for its generous dividend, which currently yields 7% annually. But even the dividend has become a side show:  These are long-term issues, and barring any surprises, AT&T stock’s reaction to its report ... may very well come down to a beat or miss from HBO Max, with the twitchy market more focused on AT&T’s streaming business of late rather than on the company’s telecom businesses. You can read the rest of Nick's AT&T earnings preview here. The company will report results before the opening bell tomorrow, with an investor call scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Eastern time.