Lumen Technologies (LUMN) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results and Next Report Date

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Lumen Technologies published the results on November 4, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Lumen Technologies reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and excluding Special Items, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Lumen sold its Mass Markets Fiber-to-the-Home business in 11 states to AT&T on February 2, 2026, for pre-tax cash proceeds of $5.72 billion. Mass Markets revenue in Q3 2026 is therefore not comparable with Q3 2025.
• Q3 2026 revenue includes $27 million of deferred support payments under the FCC's Connect America Fund Phase II program, which lapsed on December 31, 2021.
• Lumen moved its stock listing from the New York Stock Exchange to Nasdaq on October 6, 2026; the ticker stayed LUMN.

Source: Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 results, November 4, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Lumen Technologies splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Lumen Technologies's Large Enterprise revenue was $810 million in Q3 2026, up 4% from $782 million in Q3 2025, 30% of total revenue.
• Lumen Technologies's Mid-Market Enterprise revenue was $430 million in Q3 2026, down 7% from $464 million in Q3 2025, 16% of total revenue.
• Lumen Technologies's Public Sector revenue was $429 million in Q3 2026, down 10% from $476 million in Q3 2025, 16% of total revenue.
• Lumen Technologies's Wholesale revenue was $607 million in Q3 2026, down 7% from $655 million in Q3 2025, 22% of total revenue.
• Lumen Technologies's International and Other revenue was $70.0 million in Q3 2026, down 11% from $79.0 million in Q3 2025, 3% of total revenue.
• Lumen Technologies's Mass Markets revenue was $369 million in Q3 2026, down 42% from $631 million in Q3 2025, 14% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

Lumen's Adjusted EBITDA, Free Cash Flow and Capital Expenditures outlook all exclude Special Items. Free Cash Flow guidance includes $729 million of proceeds from the Mass Markets Fiber-to-the-Home divestiture.

In its Q3 2026 release, Lumen Technologies said:

“The Company reiterated its full-year 2026 financial outlook”

“Adjusted EBITDA $3.1 to $3.3 billion”

“Free Cash Flow $1.9 to $2.1 billion”

“Capital Expenditures $3.2 to $3.4 billion”

Source: Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Nov 4, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the LUMN forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

Operating revenue and GAAP diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release. For Q4 2025 Lumen reported a net loss of $2 million and printed diluted EPS as a dash (under half a cent), shown here as $0.00.

Lumen Technologies's next report is expected around February 2, 2027, a date estimated from its reporting history that the company has not yet confirmed. This page will show Q3 2026 until those results are out and have been checked against the release.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Nov 4, 2026

Lumen Technologies' operating revenue fell 12% to $2,715 million in Q3 2026 from $3,087 million. Most of the drop was in Mass Markets, the consumer business, which fell to $369 million from $631 million after Lumen sold its Fiber-to-the-Home business in 11 states to AT&T on February 2, 2026. The 10-Q says Fiber Broadband revenue fell $208 million because of that divestiture. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Lumen Technologies Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

Business revenue was $2,346 million, down 4%. Lumen splits it into Strategic products, which grew 10% to $1,279 million and made up 55% of business revenue, and Legacy products, which fell 17% to $1,067 million. The 10-Q attributes $59 million of the Strategic increase to dark fiber and conduit and $12 million to IP services, and the Legacy decline mainly to $65 million less from VPN services and $84 million less from voice and private line services. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Lumen Technologies Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

By sales channel, Large Enterprise was the only one to grow, up 4% to $810 million. Mid-Market Enterprise fell 7% to $430 million, Public Sector 10% to $429 million and Wholesale 7% to $607 million. International and Other, the remaining business outside North America, fell to $70 million from $79 million. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Lumen's Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deals, in which large customers fund fiber builds on its network, brought in $66 million of revenue and $117 million of cash in Q3 2026. Lumen signed $700 million of new PCF deals in 2026 to date, for over $13.5 billion in cumulative signed agreements, and deferred revenue on the balance sheet rose to $8,238 million non-current from $6,406 million at the end of 2025. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 earnings presentation, Nov 4, 2026; Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Lumen Technologies reported a diluted loss per share of $(0.26) for Q3 2026, against $(0.62), on a net loss of $(265) million, against $(621) million. Excluding Special Items, the loss was $(0.14) a share, against $(0.20). Special Items, net of tax, were $121 million in the quarter and $424 million a year earlier; the year-ago quarter carried a $395 million net loss on early retirement of debt. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Lower debt cut Lumen's interest expense to $189 million from $319 million, which the 10-Q puts down to a $5 billion decrease in average long-term debt after the divestiture proceeds were used to pay down borrowings. Long-term debt was $13,164 million at September 30, 2026, against $17,353 million at the end of 2025. Lumen recorded an income tax benefit of $(70) million, an effective tax rate of 20.9%. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Lumen Technologies Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Nov 4, 2026)

Adjusted EBITDA excluding Special Items fell to $715 million from $787 million, while its margin rose to 26.3% from 25.5%. The quarter's Special Items included $156 million of modernization and simplification costs, part of a program Lumen says is designed to deliver $1 billion of annualized cost savings exiting 2027, and $64 million of transaction and separation costs. Diluted weighted average shares were 1,004.8 million, against 996.0 million. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026; Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 earnings presentation, Nov 4, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Lumen Technologies reiterated its full-year 2026 outlook with Q3 results: Adjusted EBITDA of $3.1 to $3.3 billion, Free Cash Flow of $1.9 to $2.1 billion, Capital Expenditures of $3.2 to $3.4 billion and net cash interest of $650 to $750 million, all excluding Special Items. The Free Cash Flow figure includes $729 million of divestiture proceeds classified as operating cash flow, and the cash tax line reflects a $420 million refund from recent tax legislation. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

Lumen's CFO said in the release that the company remains on track to deliver adjusted EBITDA inflection in 2026 and return to business revenue growth in 2028. (Lumen Technologies Q3 2026 release, Nov 4, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Lumen Technologies, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Lumen Technologies's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning LUMN is on is LUMN a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the LUMN forecast, and what the company does is on the Lumen Technologies (LUMN) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Lumen Technologies published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.