Estimates for the Verizon Communications Q2 and FY16 have been cut to reflect the impact of the strike
Published By: Ken Bock on May 20, 2016 10:10 am EST
Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ) has landed itself in a mess as the employee strikes enter the 6th week. Most of the workers involved in the protest are associated with wired communication services department. The most affected areas of business are wired telephone services and FiOS broadband network users. The ongoing protest has surely had its toll on Verizon as the estimate numbers for the company are now cut by Wells Fargo by $343 million and $826 million for Q2 and FY16, respectively.
A federal mediator has approached both the parties in order to get to a settlement in order to dissolve the causes behind the protest; however, any progress in this regard is yet to be made. The company’s management acknowledged that owing to the strikes, the company has currently been unable to process the new order for its wired broadband service. The analyst also cut the margins estimate for the wired business of Verizon down to 17.7% and 19.9% from 18.9 % and 20.7% for Q2 and FY16.
Verizon’s Wireless services have been operating as usual but the strikes have sent shockwaves across all the business of the company. The company has not been able to adequately market or offer any lucrative promotions during the running quarter, suggesting a state of psychological stress. Furthermore, the consumer activity has also been on the slower side as they await the launch of new devices. Despite the near term headwinds, the analyst chose to maintain his outperform rating on VZ. The revenue and EPS estimates for the year 2016 are now $127.4 billion and $3.91, respectively, down from $128.6 billion and $3.98. Similarly, FY17 revenue estimate goes to $128.5 billion down from $129.5 billion, while, EPS estimate goes to $4.00 from $4.08 prior estimate.
The analyst opinion regarding VZ stock is concentrated towards Hold rating which has 22 ratings to its name. Others include, 6 strong buy, 6 buy and 1 underperform. The stock closed at $49.63 yesterday.