T-Mobile CEO says his comments on Q4 were ‘misinterpreted’

T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:) CEO Mike Sievert said his comments during the UBS conference, which sent the stock tumbling Monday, were “misinterpreted.”

Shares rose 1% in premarket trading Tuesday.

The telecom giant’s stock fell more than 6% Monday after Sievert said that the fourth quarter is “back-end loaded,” suggesting that a significant portion of the company’s expected revenue and business activities is concentrated towards the end of the quarter.

Moreover, during his presentation at the conference, Sievert noted that “there is a lot of risk in the back half” of the quarter, signaling potential headwinds.

However, in a statement released Tuesday, Sievert said:

“My comments explaining normal seasonal trends in Q4 were misinterpreted by one media outlet as a warning, so I want to make sure there is no investor confusion.”

“To be clear, our Q4 is trending at least in line with prior expectations, maybe better. We continue to expect to deliver about 3 million postpaid phone net additions for the year, or more. Q3 was a fantastic growth quarter for T-Mobile and our growth momentum continues in Q4,” he added.

Sievert said at the conference that T-Mobile experienced a “decade-long record” in the third quarter for adding new mobile customers. However, he acknowledged that replicating this success in the fourth quarter could be challenging, potentially raising concerns about a possible “slowdown.”

During the third quarter, T-Mobile added a net 865,000 monthly phone subscribers, surpassing analysts’ projections. This strong performance led the company to raise its full-year forecasts for customer growth and earnings.

In October, T-Mobile projected net customer additions of 5.6 million to 5.8 million, up from the previous estimate of up to 5.7 million.

The company also updated its core adjusted earnings expectations for the year, forecasting between $31.6 billion and $31.8 billion in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization, as announced in October.

Sievert also highlighted the company’s progress with its fixed-wireless service, predicting it will reach 12 million subscribers and questioning whether it could “get beyond” that milestone.