One cause of the stock’s fall is a simple comparison between Verizon’s results and that of rivals. AT&T (T) is a company that many love to hate. Now consider that in 2022, AT&T added 2.9 million postpaid phone subscribers. Verizon? VZ added 201,000 in that time frame.
Fast forward to Q1 of 2023, and VZ lost 127,000 postpaid subs in the quarter versus 424,000 additions for T.
Verizon also has a heavy debt load: $141 billion at the end of 2022. Furthermore, much of that debt is floating rate, not an appealing scenario with interest rates on the rise.