This is from Barron's - just got published. The link and full article are below:
BARRON'S FEATURE STORY: Verizon Calling: Why Its Stock Looks Cheap
By Jack Hough
November 25, 2017
Verizon Communications shares have been laid low by the Great Wireless Price War of 2017. But how many of its customers feel as though service has suddenly gotten cheap? Not many, we’d wager.
The truth is, cellular competition this year has been little different than before, apart from some statistical quirks that made it appear as if the bottom were falling out of the market this past spring. If anything, a long price war is now easing, not worsening. For the third quarter, Verizon reported its first sequential improvement in services revenue in three years. Overall, it is on track to bring in about as much revenue this year as last year. In 2018, it could even return to modest growth.
That leaves Verizon stock (ticker: VZ), which has underperformed the Standard the relative importance of nearly all goods changes over time. Electricity use has flattened as a result of efficiency gains; packaged foods are losing market share to fresh foods; and cigarettes face a threat from the Food and Drug Administration, which plans to begin limiting nicotine to nonaddictive levels. But people are as fixated on their smartphones as ever, and the list of things to do with speedy wireless service will only grow. That’s one reason Verizon deserves a higher share price.
Here’s another: The dividend yield is 5%. Only 16 companies in the S in reality, many made no changes.
A DEAL BETWEEN T-Mobile and Sprint that would have further consolidated the market has fallen through, but even so, the two insurgents have lately raised prices. Both will need cash to invest in their networks. The BLS reports month-to-month inflation in wireless for September and October. Other factors are helping Verizon. Customer churn is improving. A change in how handsets are sold has made subsidies relatively rare. And while overage charges have greatly declined, those declines are now moderating, creating less of a drag on revenues.
Continues at: https://www.barrons.com/articles/verizon-calling-why-its-stock-looks-cheap-1511578685?mod=BOLFeed&tesla=y