AT&T misses profit estimates, shares fall

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc's quarterly profit missed analysts' estimates on Wednesday, sending its shares down 2 percent before the bell, even as it posted a surprise gain in U.S. wireless postpaid subscribers.

AT&T has reduced its dependency on the phone business by buying media content through its $85-billion acquisition of Time Warner, but still faces an uphill battle to find growth as declines in one business offset growth in another.

The second-largest U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers gained a net 69,000 phone subscribers in the United States who pay a monthly bill, compared with analysts' estimates of a net drop of 22,000 subscribers, according to research firm FactSet.

AT&T also lost 359,000 satellite television subscribers, versus 251,000 subscriber losses in the prior-year quarter, as viewers continue to cut pricey TV packages in favor of cheaper streaming video services like Netflix and Hulu.

Analysts expected AT&T to shed 245,000 satellite subscribers, according to FactSet.

The new WarnerMedia segment, which includes Turner and premium TV channel HBO, reported revenue of $8.2 billion during the quarter.

Third-quarter net income attributable to AT&T rose to $4.7 billion, or 65 cents per share, from $3.0 billion, or 49 cents per share a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company earned 90 cents per share, missing analysts' estimate of 94 cents per share, according to Refinitiv data.

Total operating revenue rose 15.3 percent to $45.74 billion, beating analysts' expectation of $45.65 billion.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang in New York and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Supriya Kurane)