AT&T vs Telephone and Data Systems
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The short version
- AT&T is the larger business, with $125.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.2B for Telephone and Data Systems, about 102 times as much.
- AT&T grew revenue faster (2.7%, against −5.3%).
- AT&T kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (19.2% operating margin, against −7.9%).
- Telephone and Data Systems turned more of its sales into free cash flow (16.2% FCF margin, against 15.5%).
- AT&T earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (8.7%, against −1.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Telephone and Data Systems’s earnings: a P/E of 11.7x against 11.3x for AT&T.
| Latest fiscal year | T · FY25 | TDS · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $143.2B | $4.1B |
| Revenue | $125.6B | $1.2B |
| Free cash flow | $19.4B | $199M |
| Net income | $22.0B | −$6.2M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 2.7% | −5.3% |
| 5-year growth | −2.6% | −25.1% |
| Share count change | −0.4% | 4.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 19.2% | −7.9% |
| Net margin | 17.5% | −0.5% |
| FCF margin | 15.5% | 16.2% |
| Return on capital | 8.7% | −1.5% |
| Return on equity | 17.9% | −0.1% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $117.9B | $62.6M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.6x | 0.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $12.7B | $196M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 11.3x | 11.7x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 5 |
Revenue
FY16
T $163.8B
TDS $5.2B
FY17
T $160.5B
TDS $5.0B
FY18
T $170.8B
TDS $5.1B
FY19
T $181.2B
TDS $5.2B
FY20
T $143.1B
TDS $5.2B
FY21
T $134.0B
TDS $5.3B
FY22
T $120.7B
TDS $5.4B
FY23
T $122.4B
TDS $1.4B
FY24
T $122.3B
TDS $1.3B
FY25
T $125.6B
TDS $1.2B
T
TDS
Operating margin
FY16
T 14.4%
TDS 2.1%
FY17
T 12.4%
TDS −2.1%
FY18
T 15.3%
TDS 4.0%
FY19
T 15.4%
TDS 3.5%
FY20
T 5.9%
TDS 5.0%
FY21
T 19.3%
TDS 4.9%
FY22
T −3.8%
TDS 2.3%
FY23
T 19.2%
TDS −50.4%
FY24
T 15.6%
TDS −14.8%
FY25
T 19.2%
TDS −7.9%
T
TDS
Free cash flow
FY16
T $16.9B
TDS $146M
FY17
T $17.4B
TDS $91.0M
FY18
T $22.4B
TDS $241M
FY19
T $29.0B
TDS $59.0M
FY20
T $28.4B
TDS $194M
FY21
T $26.4B
TDS −$28.0M
FY22
T $16.2B
TDS −$6.0M
FY23
T $20.5B
TDS $498M
FY24
T $18.5B
TDS $780M
FY25
T $19.4B
TDS $199M
T
TDS
Return on capital
FY16
T 6.5%
TDS 1.0%
FY17
T 8.0%
TDS −1.3%
FY18
T 6.7%
TDS 2.4%
FY19
T 6.3%
TDS 1.8%
FY20
T 1.9%
TDS 3.3%
FY21
T 6.3%
TDS 2.6%
FY22
T −1.3%
TDS 0.7%
FY23
T 7.6%
TDS −5.4%
FY24
T 5.8%
TDS −1.7%
FY25
T 8.7%
TDS −1.5%
T
TDS
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.