No company is too big to fail, and no company is too small to raise. What we need to worry about more is the amount of change that AT&T and the whole business, for that matter, is going through. Teleco is a dying business and T is moving into areas in which it never done business before, and the amount of change that comes with that raises a question: what will our position be in the new company structure, and realistically, is there a p[lace for us under the T roof. Think we all need to think about that before we make the decision, whether we’ll look for a new job, or stay and hope the layoffs bypass us.
9 replies (most recent on top)
Frontier was paying 60% dividend at one point, with a 75% drop in stock price. It only lasted one quarter and then they stopped paying dividend altogether.
Yes, please explain how Profits can be skewed to tell a story? In reality, AT&T stock with dividends since 2005 is up 262%, and the S&P500 index is up 300% over the same time. It's not horrible performance given lower risk with AT&T since it has a 6.3% dividend. It's at 6.93% average return over that period, when the historic stock market average overall is 7.9%.
@Zm4gS9h-1lzb well said
Metrics can be skewed to tell a story. People who work with numbers understand this. You also need to look at the overall health of the company- how well it is being managed, the overall strategy. Anyone who looks at these factors and still thinks AT&T is doing well is a dolt.
@Zm4gS9h-daq AT&T's debt to equity ratio in 2005 was 0.52, currently it is 0.84. The average for the S&P500 is 0.86.
@Zm4gS9h-1klw Yes, the stock price is only up 20% since 2005, but that's because it's a high dividend paying stock. It's actually up 258% since 2005 with dividends included. Just look at other high dividend stocks. Macy's pays 6.2% dividend and is down almost 30% since 2005. Ford pays 6.8% dividend, and is down 35% since 2005. CenturyLink pays 8.3% dividend, and is down 40% since 2005. High dividend paying stocks aren't supposed to have fast growing stock prices cause the growth is paid out through the dividend.
@THH, there's a whole lot more to the T's story than just one metric. You are looking at total gross profit. There picture changes completely if you look at NET EARNINGS PER SHARE over that period to account for expenses and share count bloat. Revenue is increasing because the company is taking on massive debt to acquire other businesses to become larger, not from organic growth.
Furthermore, the QUALITY of the earnings is poor. That's why since '05 the stock value is up a whopping 20%. Or just over one percent per year.
To be honest, if this behemoth were broken up the individual companies would be worth more than
they are combined into T. And they would be far more dynamic and competitive.
Good point @thh. ATT profits increase due to purchase of unrelated companies and a sorption of their income. Now pop up a chart of corporate debt next to this, and realize that the coming recession will decrease consumer discretionary spending on our services. This is why the stock price fell 25% over the last two years and continues to hover around $30.
Dying business, failing business, head for the lifeboats
AT&T Profits:
2018 - $91.3 Billion
2017 - $82.7 Billion
2016 - $86.6 Billion
2015 - $79.8 Billion
2014 - $72.3 Billion
2013 - $77.6 Billion
2012 - $72.2 Billion
2011 - $71.8 Billion
2010 - $74.0 Billion
2009 - $71.9 Billion
2008 - $66.8 Billion
2007 - $72.1 Billion
2006 - $34.2 Billion
2005 - $24.6 Billion