It was Big Three earnings week, and the market rewarded the carriers that showed discipline: AT&T jumped on strong postpaid and fiber numbers, Verizon rose on record cash flow, while T-Mobile sold off hard despite an EPS beat. On the equipment side, Semtech and Netgear posted double digit gains while Inseego slid ahead of earnings. In space, the direct to device race kept accelerating, with AT&T putting a “next year” timeline on its AST SpaceMobile service and SpaceX preparing the first Starlink V3 satellites, even as SPCX shares touched an all time low. Here is how the week ending July 24, 2026 shook out.
Weekly Performance
Prices reflect the latest available quotes as of Friday, July 24, 2026. Entries marked with an asterisk are intraday quotes captured near Friday’s close; entries with an earlier date are the last confirmed close available at publish time. The baseline for weekly changes is the Friday, July 17, 2026 close.
US Carriers
| Company | Latest Price | Weekly Change |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T (T) | $23.50 | +7.7% |
| Verizon (VZ) | $45.44* | +4.2% |
| T-Mobile (TMUS) | $171.36* | down 11.0% |
Router & Equipment Makers
| Company | Latest Price | Weekly Change |
|---|---|---|
| Ericsson (ERIC), parent of Cradlepoint | $9.31 (Jul 23) | down 5.2% |
| Semtech (SMTC), parent of Sierra Wireless | $138.68 (Jul 23) | +11.0% |
| Digi International (DGII) | $65.81* | +3.0% |
| Netgear (NTGR) | $24.94 | +11.2% |
| Inseego (INSG) | $6.66 | down 11.1% |
| Cisco (CSCO), Meraki | $112.76 (Jul 23) | +0.7% |
| Plover Bay (1523.HK), Peplink’s parent | HK$8.00 | +2.6% |
Satellite & Emerging
| Company | Latest Price | Weekly Change |
|---|---|---|
| AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) | $56.08* | down 3.0% |
| Iridium (IRDM) | $47.69* | +2.2% |
| Globalstar (GSAT) | $79.94 (Jul 22) | +1.0% |
| EchoStar (ECHO) | $87.32* | down 5.1% |
| Viasat (VSAT) | $74.37 (Jul 22) | +4.0% |
| SpaceX (SPCX) | $118.24 (Jul 23) | down 4.6% |
Stories Behind the Moves
US Carriers. AT&T reported Q2 on Wednesday with EPS of $0.65 (beating the $0.60 estimate), 432,000 postpaid phone net adds, fiber revenue up 27%, and an accelerated buyback of roughly $10 billion for 2026, and the stock added to its gains after Barron’s covered an analyst upgrade arguing SpaceX competition fears are overblown. Verizon closed the week with a record quarter: $13.7 billion in adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow up 24% to $6.4 billion, and raised free cash flow guidance of about $22 billion. T-Mobile was the outlier, falling roughly 11% for the week despite a $2.99 EPS beat, as investors digested UScellular merger costs and questioned how much premium plan migration is driving service revenue growth of 9%.
Router & Equipment Makers. Semtech, parent of Sierra Wireless, kept climbing (+11% this week, up roughly 76% in a month) on AI data center interconnect demand reportedly running about three times its supply capacity. Netgear rose ahead of its July 29 earnings report, though management has flagged DDR4 memory cost headwinds for the second half. Inseego slid about 11% ahead of its August 5 report after launching the MiFi PRO M4 on Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband earlier in the month. Ericsson, parent of Cradlepoint, continued drifting lower following the prior week’s Q2 miss and CEO transition news, and named a new head of its Global Communications Platform this week. Cisco released Antares, a pair of open weight AI models that scan codebases for vulnerabilities without sending source code to outside AI providers. Plover Bay, Peplink’s listed parent, firmed up ahead of its July 30 half year results, with the planned Peplink Holdings Nasdaq spin off still on track for late 2026.
Satellite & Emerging. AST SpaceMobile staged a partial comeback after AT&T said on its earnings call that its AST powered direct to device service will “come to fruition” next year on standard phones. Iridium reported Q2 revenue of $225.2 million, up 4%, but skipped its earnings call entirely given the pending Rocket Lab acquisition. EchoStar drifted lower as its DISH DBS Chapter 11 restructuring moved toward a Q3 exit, one week after a federal judge released it from the obligation to run its own mobile network. Viasat gained after confirming successful deployment of the main reflector on its ViaSat-3 F3 satellite, keeping Asia Pacific service on track for later this year. SPCX touched an all time low of $110.85 on Thursday, down roughly 50% from its June peak despite Nasdaq-100 inclusion.
Starlink and Amazon Leo. SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 was set to fly Friday carrying the first 20 next generation Starlink V3 satellites, following a scrubbed attempt on July 16 covered by Space.com, and Starlink has now topped 10 million subscribers. Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) had a quiet week, but with more than 390 satellites in orbit Amazon says it has completed enough launches to begin initial consumer service later this year, while its $11.6 billion Globalstar acquisition remains pending.
5Gstore Take
For our customers, the week’s biggest signal is that satellite direct to device is moving from press release to product roadmap: AT&T put a date on AST SpaceMobile service, Starlink V3 hardware is on the pad, and Amazon Leo is nearing consumer service. None of that replaces a proper cellular router with external antennas for business critical connectivity, and the strong fiber and fixed wireless numbers from AT&T and Verizon show where carrier investment is actually flowing. Meanwhile, component cost pressure (DDR4 memory in particular) is worth watching: if you have been planning a router refresh, buying ahead of potential price increases is reasonable. We carry the full lineup from the brands we track here: Peplink, Cradlepoint, Sierra Wireless/Semtech, Inseego, Digi, Teltonika, and Katalyst. Not sure which platform fits your deployment? Contact our team and we will help you spec it.
FAQ
Why did T-Mobile drop when it beat earnings estimates?
The stock fell about 11% for the week even though EPS of $2.99 beat the $2.59 consensus. Investors focused on UScellular merger integration costs and on how much of the 9% service revenue growth depends on migrating subscribers to pricier premium plans, a lever that may not repeat forever.
Does AT&T’s AST SpaceMobile timeline mean I can skip a cellular router?
No. AT&T says satellite direct to device service arrives next year, but it is designed for coverage gaps: texting, voice, and basic data where towers do not reach. Fixed and mobile deployments that need reliable bandwidth will still depend on cellular routers, good antennas, and in some cases Starlink or other satellite backhaul as a failover path.
What happened to the SATS ticker?
EchoStar changed its ticker from SATS to ECHO on June 24, 2026. It is the same company, now largely a spectrum and pay TV holding following its $40 billion in spectrum sales to AT&T and SpaceX.
Why is Peplink listed as Plover Bay on the Hong Kong exchange?
Plover Bay Technologies (1523.HK) is Peplink’s publicly traded parent company. A spin off that would list Peplink Holdings separately on Nasdaq was announced in February and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, at which point we will switch to tracking that ticker.
This post is informational market commentary, not investment advice. Prices reflect the latest available quotes at time of writing; several Friday closes were not yet finalized at publish time and are marked accordingly. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.
About the Author
Michael Ginsberg is the founder of 5Gstore.com, a trusted source for cellular routers and failover networking solutions since 2005. With a background in software and networking dating back to 1988, he writes about cellular connectivity, IoT infrastructure, network security, and fleet management. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn or reach the 5Gstore team through our contact page.
