SBC Communications profits rise in second quarter

<br>SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) _ SBC Communications Inc. said Wednesday that second-quarter profits rose and beat Wall Street expectations, helped by growth in wireless, long-distance and data services. <br><br>SBC

Wednesday, July 25th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) _ SBC Communications Inc. said Wednesday that second-quarter profits rose and beat Wall Street expectations, helped by growth in wireless, long-distance and data services.

SBC said it earned $2.07 billion, or 61 cents per share, in the April-June period, up from $1.85 billion, or 54 cents per share, a year ago.

That topped the expectation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call, who had a consensus estimate of 57 cents per share.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $13.59 billion from $13.19 billion, including SBC's 60 percent share of the Cingular wireless phone joint venture with BellSouth Corp.

SBC said it remains ``cautious about the rest of the year, especially because of uncertainty about the U.S. economy.

SBC said it expects modest revenue growth and continues to estimate full-year operating earnings in the range of $2.35 to $2.40 per share.

SBC is the parent company of Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., which serves Oklahoma.

The San Antonio-based company said revenue from data services rose 28 percent to $2.2 billion, Cingular's customer count grew about 3 percent and long-distance customers jumped 27 percent over the first quarter.

In the first six months of the year, SBC earned $3.9 billion, or $1.15 a share, up from $3.7 billion, or $1.07 a share, a year ago. Revenue was $26.73 billion, up from $25.75 billion a year ago.