New Delhi, April 27 -- Verizon Communications Inc. shares rose over 3% on Monday morning following the release of its first quarter financial results. The figures suggest that the strategy implemented by new CEO Dan Schulman to reclaim market share is yielding early results, evidenced by a significant turnaround in mobile subscriber numbers.

The carrier added 55,000 net new mobile phone users, marking its first positive first-quarter growth for this metric since 2013-a year-over-year jump of 340,000. This performance sharply contrasted with analyst expectations of approximately 89,169 losses.

At 12:54 p.m. EDT, Verizon stock rose 2.87%, or $1.33, at $47.72 in New York trading. The company's 14% year-to-date gain outpaces AT&T's 5.5% ris...