AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T)

Return on Assets (ROA)

The ROA exhibits a fluctuating pattern over the analyzed periods. Beginning with negative values around -0.98% in late 2020, it improved slightly to positive territory by the end of 2020 and throughout 2021, reaching a peak of approximately 4.7%. However, in 2022, a decline occurred, with ROA turning negative again, hitting lows around -2.78%. The metric recovered steadily starting in early 2023, maintaining positive values in the range of 2.3% to 3.54%, and demonstrating a modest upward trend through mid-2025. This pattern indicates intermittent periods of reduced asset efficiency and subsequent recovery phases.

Financial Leverage

Financial leverage ratios have generally increased from about 3.07 in early 2020 to a peak of approximately 4.13 by late 2022, indicating a growing reliance on debt or other liabilities in the capital structure. Post-2022, leverage gradually declined, stabilizing around 3.78 to 3.85 in the subsequent years through mid-2025. The initial upward trend signifies an increase in leverage over time, followed by a corrective phase where the company slightly deleveraged or maintained a steadier leverage ratio.

Return on Equity (ROE)

The ROE demonstrates pronounced volatility throughout the period. Negative returns were recorded in 2020 and early 2021, with values as low as -10.9% by late 2022. Subsequent quarters reflect a recovery trend, with ROE rising substantially to double-digit positive percentages peaking around 16.92% in late 2021. After the downturn in 2022, the ROE resumed growth, stabilizing between approximately 8.85% and 13.94% from early 2023 onwards. This volatility likely reflects changing profitability and capital efficiency, with periods of loss followed by significant recovery and growth in shareholder returns.

The financial data reveals several notable trends across the analyzed periods for the company in question.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin exhibits considerable volatility over the examined quarters. Initially, from late 2020 to early 2021, the margin improved from negative values to a positive peak around the end of 2021, reaching approximately 15.37%. However, there is a marked decline in early 2022, with margins turning negative again, nearing -9.29% by late 2022. Following this downturn, the margin recovers substantially in 2024 and 2025, stabilizing within a range of roughly 7.42% to 10.29%. This pattern suggests cyclical fluctuations with periods of both significant losses and gains.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover remains relatively stable throughout the periods, consistently around 0.3 to 0.33. This indicates a steady efficiency level in using assets to generate revenue, with minor fluctuations that do not suggest significant operational changes or shifts in asset utilization strategy.

Financial Leverage

The financial leverage ratio shows a gradual increase from approximately 3.07 in early 2020 to a peak of 4.13 toward the end of 2022, followed by a moderate decrease and stabilization around 3.8 to 3.9 in subsequent periods. This trend implies a growing use of debt financing initially, which moderates in the later periods, potentially reflecting efforts to manage debt levels or changes in capital structure approach.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE closely mirrors the net profit margin trend, with negative values observed in late 2020 and early 2021, improving to a significant peak around the end of 2021 with values exceeding 16%. A steep decline follows in 2022 with negative returns, reflecting challenges during that period. Subsequently, a recovery is observed, with ROE values reaching above 12% by 2025, indicating regained profitability and efficiency in generating shareholder returns.

Overall, the company experienced a period of financial instability with negative profitability and returns through 2020 to 2022, followed by a recovery phase in 2023 onward. Asset management efficiency remained consistent, while leverage increased initially but later stabilized, possibly contributing to the restoration of profitability and equity returns in recent years.

The financial data reveals notable variations and patterns in key profitability, efficiency, and leverage metrics over the observed quarters.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio was initially absent but from late 2020 onwards, it displayed a relatively stable trend, fluctuating narrowly between approximately 0.7 and 0.8. This indicates a consistent portion of earnings retained after tax.

Interest Burden

The interest burden demonstrated volatility. From negative values around late 2020 and early 2021, it recovered sharply to positive values above 0.7 in 2021, signifying improvement in management of interest expenses relative to earnings. However, significant negative spikes at the end of 2022 indicate periods of higher interest costs adversely impacting earnings before tax, followed by recovery to stable levels near 0.7 through 2025.

EBIT Margin

EBIT margin showed broad variability. After moderate positive margins in 2020, a marked increase occurred in 2021, peaking around 23.9%. A pronounced dip into negative margin territory occurred at the end of 2022 and early 2023, suggesting operational difficulties or unusual expenses in this period. Subsequently, EBIT margin rebounded strongly, stabilizing near 18–20% during 2024–2025, reflecting improved operational profitability.

Asset Turnover

This metric remained fairly consistent throughout the periods, fluctuating narrowly between 0.27 and 0.33, indicating stable efficiency in asset utilization to generate revenue.

Financial Leverage

The financial leverage ratio exhibited a gradual upward trend from approximately 3.07 in early 2020 to above 4.0 by late 2022, before declining moderately to about 3.8 by 2025. This suggests an increase in the use of debt financing or equity leveraging during 2020–2022, followed by a slight deleveraging phase.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE displayed significant fluctuations. Negative returns were dominant in 2020 and early 2021, as well as again at the end of 2022 and early 2023, mirroring the dips seen in EBIT margin and interest burden spikes. From mid-2021 and moving into 2024 and 2025, ROE improved substantially, attaining positive double-digit percentages, though with a declining trend towards the end of the timeline, indicating stronger but somewhat variable profitability on shareholder equity.

Collectively, the data suggest periods of stress and recovery, particularly around the end of 2022 and early 2023, impacting profitability and interest expenses. The company’s operational efficiency remained stable, while leverage increased before a moderate reduction. Profitability measures improved significantly after downturns, pointing to a recuperative phase in recent years.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin displayed a fluctuating trend throughout the periods. Initially, it was negative at -3.01% in December 2020, improving slightly to -1.11% by September 2021. This was followed by significant positive growth, reaching a peak of 15.37% in December 2021. However, a sharp decline occurred in 2022, with margins falling back into negative territory, reaching as low as -9.29% in December 2022. Starting in 2024, the net profit margin showed recovery and consistency, stabilizing in the range of approximately 7.42% to 11.76%, suggesting a return to profitability and moderate growth expectations into mid-2025.

Asset Turnover

Asset turnover ratios were relatively stable over the reported quarters, demonstrating modest variability. Beginning at 0.33 in December 2020 and maintaining a range between 0.27 and 0.33, this ratio depicted consistent asset utilization efficiency without significant disruptions. Slight decreases were noted in mid-2022, aligning with the period of profit margin deterioration. From 2023 onward, the ratio held steady around 0.30 to 0.31, indicating stable management of asset productivity.

Return on Assets (ROA)

ROA exhibited a trend similar to that of net profit margin, reflecting profitability relative to assets. The initial periods showed negative returns, with -0.98% in December 2020 improving slightly to 0.21% by December 2021. ROA then experienced a positive peak of 4.7% at the end of 2021, followed by a pronounced drop to negative figures in 2022, with the lowest at -2.78% in December. Subsequently, the ratio recovered during 2024, climbing back to positive values between approximately 2.3% and 3.54%, suggesting improving asset profitability and operational efficiency moving forward.

The analysis of the quarterly financial data reveals several notable trends and patterns over the periods under review.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio shows a generally stable trend in the latter reported periods, consistently around 0.7 to 0.8. Early data points are mostly unavailable, but from late 2020 through 2025, the ratio remains steady, suggesting a consistent proportion of earnings retained after taxes.

Interest Burden

The interest burden ratio exhibits significant variability. It starts with negative values and extreme fluctuations during 2020 and parts of 2022, including sharp declines to -7.39 and -4.88, indicating periods of high interest expenses relative to earnings before interest and taxes or negative EBIT. However, from 2023 onwards, the ratio stabilizes around 0.65 to 0.74, implying improved management of interest expenses or stronger operating earnings.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin percentage demonstrates notable volatility. After limited early data, margins improve significantly entering into 2021, peaking above 22% in some quarters, which signals enhanced operating profitability. However, intermittent quarters in 2022 and early 2023 display sharp dips, including negative margins (e.g., -0.8%), implying occasional operational challenges or increased costs. The margin recovers in subsequent periods, settling mostly between 16% and 20%, indicative of a relatively strong operating performance with some fluctuations.

Asset Turnover

The asset turnover ratio remains broadly consistent across the reporting periods, generally fluctuating slightly around 0.3. This steadiness indicates a stable efficiency level in utilizing assets to generate revenue, without marked improvements or deteriorations.

Return on Assets (ROA)

ROA exhibits considerable variability with initial negative values through 2020 and early 2023, reflecting periods where net income was insufficient relative to assets, potentially due to operational or market challenges. Positive returns emerge notably between late 2020 and 2021, reaching peaks around 4.7%, signaling effective asset utilization during those periods. The metric declines again around early 2023 but improves steadily onwards, stabilizing near 3% by 2025. Overall, this suggests a recovery in profitability relative to assets after intermittent downturns.

The analysis of the presented financial ratios over the series of quarterly periods reveals several noteworthy trends and fluctuations.

Tax Burden

The tax burden ratio data begins from December 31, 2020, with an initial value of 0.33. From this point, it sharply increases and stabilizes around 0.78 to 0.80 through March 31, 2023. In subsequent quarters, the ratio mostly maintains a consistent level near 0.7 to 0.73 by June 30, 2025. This suggests a relatively stable tax expense relative to earnings, after an early adjustment phase.

Interest Burden

The interest burden ratio demonstrates high volatility. Early values from September 30, 2020, to December 31, 2021, fluctuate from negative values (indicating possibly high interest expenses or non-recurring financial adjustments) to positive values approaching 0.8. There is a notable period of sharp negative spikes between December 31, 2022, and September 30, 2023, with values as low as -7.39, suggesting significant financial distress or interest charge anomalies. Following this, the ratio recovers, stabilizing close to 0.7 by mid-2025. This indicates a period of financial instability followed by significant recovery in interest management.

EBIT Margin

The EBIT margin shows an overall increasing trend from early 2020 through late 2021, moving from low single digits (around 2.16% to roughly 6.13%) to strong double digits, peaking near 23.9% by December 31, 2021. This peak coincides with the timeframe of improved tax and interest burdens. However, the margin sharply declines in early 2023, even turning negative in December 31, 2023 (-0.8%), indicating operational challenges or increased costs during this period. Subsequently, the margin recovers robustly to over 19% by early 2024, though a moderate downward trend is observed through early 2025. This pattern reflects periods of profitability growth, operational headwinds, and partial recovery.

Net Profit Margin

The net profit margin follows a somewhat erratic pattern. Initially, it is negative in 2020 and early 2021, reflecting losses (-3.01% to around 0.67%). Then, a notable improvement occurs, achieving double-digit positive margins between March 31, 2021, and December 31, 2021 (up to 15.37%). In early to mid-2023, a substantial drop into negative territory occurs again, with margins near -9.29%, suggesting significant challenges affecting bottom-line profitability. From March 31, 2024, onward, the net profit margin recovers to low double digits, before showing signs of stabilization around 9-10% by mid-2025. This volatility closely mirrors the EBIT margin trends, influenced by operational and financial factors impacting overall profitability.