It’s Time to Hang Up on Verizon Stock (VZ)

by Louis Navellier | April 8, 2014 11:32 am

Welcome to the Stock of the Day.

Can you hear me now? Good. Today, we’re going to take a look at Verizon Communications  (VZ[1]), who is known for operating America’s largest and most reliable wireless voice and 3G network.

With the stock going ex-dividend today, is it time to buy?

Company Profile

If you live in the United States, chances are you have heard of the massive rivalry between Verizon and AT&T (T[2]) However, many don’t realize that Verizon started as an AT&T spinoff in 1984. Fast forward almost three decades later, and Verizon has emerged as a global force in the broadband and telecommunications industry.

The company has diversified into a number of telecommunications services, including land line telephone and internet services, as well as one of the most advanced wireless networks on the planet.

Dividend and Earnings Buzz

As I mentioned earlier, VZ goes ex-dividend today. Shareholders of record will receive 53 cents  per share on May 1. The stock pays one of the strongest dividends in the industry (with a 4.4% yield), but I still don’t recommend you add it right now.

I’ll cover this in more detail shortly, but institutional buying pressure–a good metric of a stock’s risk-to-return ratio–is very low for VZ shares. And unless Verizon can wow investors with its April 24 first-quarter earnings report, I don’t expect this to change anytime soon.

Speaking of which, the analyst community is calling for earnings of 85 cents per share on $30.67 billion in sales. Compared with the year ago quarter this works out to 4.3% sales growth and 25% earnings growth.

However, given that the company hasn’t posted a blowout earnings surprise for the past several quarters I don’t expect this earnings announcement to be a game-changer for VZ.

Current Ratings

Before you buy any stock, you should always run it through my free Portfolio Grader[3] ratings system. For much of the past year, this stock fluctuated between a hold and a sell. The stock does earn As on four of the metrics I graded it on (operating margin growth, cash flow, return on equity and earnings momentum).

But it could work on sales growth, earnings growth and earnings surprises, which are all C-rated. So VZ receives a B for its Fundamental Grade. Meanwhile, institutional buying pressure could hardly be lower for VZ shares so the stock receives an F for its Quantitative Grade.

Bottom Line: As of this posting I consider Verizon stock a D-rated Sell.

Would you like to check the fundamentals backing up one of your stocks? For more stock grades, please visit my Portfolio Grader[3] website!

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/04/verizon-stock-vz-t-stocks-to-sell/

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