Verizon earnings increase 31%

Verizon Communications Inc. said Monday that earnings rose 31% in the third quarter as wireless did better than expected, while its traditional phone business continued to decline.

The country’s second-largest telecommunications company, after AT&T; Inc., earned $1.67 billion, or 59 cents a share, up from $1.27 billion, or 44 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 4.1% to $24.7 billion.

Excluding charges for job cuts and merger costs, New York-based Verizon earned 66 cents a share, matching the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. They were expecting $24.52 billion in revenue.

Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said business was holding up well despite the economic turmoil but said it would have an effect in the current quarter.

Seidenberg said the company expected to increase earnings, excluding items, by 8% from last year.

At the beginning of the year, Verizon had put the increase at 8% to 10%.

The new forecast indicates fourth-quarter earnings of 62 cents a share, falling below the 65 cents a share analysts are expecting.

Investors, however, found Verizon’s results reassuring and sent shares up $2.53, or 10.1%, to $27.61.