T vs VZ — which stock performed better?

AT&T Inc. (T) versus Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), Communication Services, on 2026-08-06.

Result

AT&T Inc. (T) performed better on 2026-08-06. T moved 1.820%, VZ moved 0.490%.

Why these two companies

On Tuesday, August 4, 2026, SpaceX detailed plans to layer a land-based mobile network on top of Starlink using 65 MHz of spectrum bought from EchoStar for $19.6 billion, explicitly naming AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile as targets for customer poaching. Shares of both AT&T and Verizon fell in after-hours trading on August 4 and extended losses into Wednesday, August 5 premarket, making this the freshest and most direct threat narrative hitting the wireless duopoly. AT&T and Verizon are the two most recognizable legacy carriers investors are now debating as more or less exposed to Starlink's mobile ambitions.

The research

AT&T provides phone, internet and fiber service to households and businesses across the country, while Verizon does the same thing but is generally seen as having a stronger, more premium wireless network. Both companies just got surprised by news that SpaceX, the rocket company behind Starlink internet, wants to build its own phone network and steal customers from them, which pushed both of their stock prices down.

One reason someone might pick AT&T is that its internet business, built on fiber cables in the ground, is something a satellite company would find very hard to copy street by street. One reason someone might pick Verizon is that it just raised its full-year profit forecast after a strong quarter and has long been viewed as the most dependable network of the two.

Something to keep in mind for AT&T: it owes a lot of money from past big investments, so any new competitive pressure is a bigger deal for its finances. Something to keep in mind for Verizon: its total revenue actually shrank slightly in its most recent quarter, even though profits improved, so growth has been harder to come by.

Both companies pay out a large chunk of their profit as dividends to shareholders, which is part of why people buy them, but that same generous payout leaves less room to absorb a serious new competitive threat if the SpaceX plans move forward faster than expected.