The wireless communication world is about to receive a new entrant, as the country's third-largest cable company will start a cellular network in three areas today. The company? Cox Communications.

Before you think that this wireless network will be available across the U.S., Cox's wireless offerings will be available in Orange County, California; Omaha, Nebraska; and Hampton Roads, Virginia. These three locales are where Cox is the local cable company, and they hold roughly 1.5 million residents.

Continue reading Cox Communications Launches Cell Phone Service

Cox Communications Launches Cell Phone Service originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Consider CenturyLink: Because the Future Belongs to Cheaper Broadband

Consider CenturyLink: Because the Future Belongs to Cheaper Broadband originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Slow growth/dividend play Verizon Communications (VZ), first discussed here on February 12, 2009, at a price of $29.86, is registering more growth than expected, and I obviously still like the shares here.

Moreover, Verizon's chart appears to be forming a cup-with-a-handle -- a bullish formation.

Verizon will likely post 2% to 2.5% revenue gain in 2011, after flattish revenue in 2010, with data services being the key revenue increase driver. Cell phone subscriber additions should lead the sector, but competition may hurt overall subscription prices. Further, if unlimited service for a flat fee becomes the sector norm, that would further dent wireless revenue. As of June 2010, Verizon had 93 million wireless subscribers, with another 8 million devices connected to its network. A rock-solid $1.95 annual dividend - good for a 6% yield at the current stock price of about $32.50 -- adds to the positive mix.

Continue reading Verizon: Back Up the Truck

Verizon: Back Up the Truck originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wednesday morning, Standard & Poor's announced that it may cut AT&T's (T) credit rating because the company could have trouble reducing its debt load within a "reasonable timeframe."

The ratings house placed the communications firm on CreditWatch negative with implications, which includes the company's "A" rating and its "A-1" short-term and commercial paper ratings. S&P stated, that it expects "a potential downgrade of the corporate credit rating, if any, would be limited to one notch." This news has had very little impact on the stock, as shares of the titan of telecom were trading near break-even by late morning.

Continue reading Standard & Poor's May Downgrade AT&T

Standard & Poor's May Downgrade AT&T originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Dusting off the Europe-Effect (AIG, BP, IEP, JSDA, PT, PANL)

Closing Bell: Dusting off the Europe-Effect (AIG, BP, IEP, JSDA, PT, PANL) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Jun 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Goldman Sachs (GS) was quite the busy brokerage this morning, as it trekked through the financial sector and also issued a number of other upgrades, including one for Sprint Nextel (S).

The brokerage upped Sprint to buy from neutral, issuing a $6 price target, a nice elevation from the previous target of $3.50. Goldman noted that the reason for the upgrade is churn, and that the company is "about to move the needle." Goldman stated, "Sprint's gross add/upgrade activity slowed sharply in 2008, which ironically should benefit the company over the course of 2010 as the logical pool of churn subscribers is reduced." The upgrade comes basically from a glorified hunch.

Continue reading Sprint Nextel Upgraded to Buy

Sprint Nextel Upgraded to Buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 May 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Sprint Nextel First-Quarter Net Loss Widens

Sprint Nextel First-Quarter Net Loss Widens originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Communication Firms Take On the FCC

Communication Firms Take On the FCC originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here's another one of those stocks that I didn't buy and then found myself sadly watching from the sidelines as it rose higher. A year ago, I proffered a bearish reading on the prospects for telecom entity Qwest Communications (Q). Well, shares of Qwest have done well over the last twelve months. Should I now allocate some investment capital to this idea?

One might argue yes. After all, the company is up at the time of this writing on the Q4 numbers. However, I just don't feel compelled to buy. Especially not after all the declines I see in the release.

Continue reading Qwest's Q4: Many Declines, Yet Stock Sees a Bid

Qwest's Q4: Many Declines, Yet Stock Sees a Bid originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Another quarter has come and gone for telecommunications expert Verizon (VZ). And with it, another opportunity for management to flaunt its cash-generation abilities. Earnings may be down, but I've said it before and I'll say it again here: When Wall Street thinks Verizon, it thinks attractive dividend yield.

On an adjusted basis, the company made 54 cents per share in the fourth quarter. This was seven cents less than last year's income figure. Unfortunately, it was also a penny below expectations, according to our earnings preview.

Continue reading Verizon's Q4 Profit Declines, but Cash Generation Is Still Okay

Verizon's Q4 Profit Declines, but Cash Generation Is Still Okay originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ciena Corp fourth quarter earnings preview

Ciena Corp fourth quarter earnings preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

BT Group, which virtually owns the UK telecommunications market, isn't waiting for Google (GOOG) to launch a full attack. The company probably expects to be under assault from the search engine (and advertising and e-mail) giant, so it's taking early action. Google Voice is still being tested, but words like "free" and "powerful" and "internet-based" are bound to inspire fear in even the most established of companies.

To protect itself from the eventual attack from Mountain View, BT picked up Ribbit Mobile, and testing is in progress. Ribbit's technology has some overlap with Google Voice and even beats it with a few capabilities, according to Bloomberg. Ribbit just launched its beta product this month. It allows either the user's current phone number or a new one from Ribbit -- which is no different from Google's alternative. The product suite is generally the same, with phone- and web-based voicemail retrieval and automatic transcriptions that can be sent by text message or e-mail. For an extra fee, BT's Ribbit does provide human transcription, though it is free during testing. And, calls can be taken directly from a computer, using a microphone and speakers.

Continue reading BT and Google battle over the spoken word

BT and Google battle over the spoken word originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Our favorite and steadiest U.S. telecom recommendation is Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ)," says Martin Weiss.

He explains, "We've always liked their steady-Eddie business and their tradition of paying handsome, predictable dividends." Here's the latest from the "conservative portfolio" section of his The Safe Money Report.

Continue reading Verizon (VZ): 'Steady-Eddie'

Verizon (VZ): 'Steady-Eddie' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"I remain optimistic that now is a good time to be purchasing high-yielding assets," says growth and income expert Bryan Perry.

Indeed in his industry-leading The Cash Machine, the advisor adds two growth and income picks to his buy list: AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Here's his assessment.

"Even if you are forecasting a recovery in mid to late 2010, you should be aggressively buying strategic high-income assets over the next three to six months.

Continue reading Telephone talk: Income expert calls up AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ)

Telephone talk: Income expert calls up AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Christine A. Varney heads up antitrust at the Department of Justice, and she's going hunting. She is the point person for a group consisting of the presidential administration and some Congressional Democrats that is looking to put the breaks on large companies in several industries.

Already, airlines have run into roadblocks when requesting relief from antitrust regulations. Varney & Co. are digging into complaints by AT&T (NYSE: ATT) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) that cable competitors - e.g., Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) - have locked them out of the market for cable company-produced programming.

(Imagine that, a phone company complaining! Usually, they're the objects of derision.)

Continue reading Antitrust orgy coming: Airlines, tech and others in sights

Antitrust orgy coming: Airlines, tech and others in sights originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Rumor has it that Nortel Networks (OTC: NRTLQ) will sell its enterprise division in the near future.

This would be part of a broader plan to break the company apart instead of trying to restructure its way out of bankruptcy. The company is planning to sell its CDMA and LTE wireless businesses to Nokia (NYSE: NOK) for $650 million -- the first unit sale since the January bankruptcy filing.

Continue reading Nortel could be dumping enterprise division

Nortel could be dumping enterprise division originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ciena (NASDAQ: CIEN), a business that sells various networking and software products for fiber-optic and broadband technologies, and whose colleagues include Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), reported late Thursday a difficult second quarter. Revenues declined by 40%. For the bottom line, Ciena said it lost 25 cents per share on an adjusted basis. Last year at this time, Ciena made an adjusted 40 cents per share. And in terms of expectations, the company was only supposed to lose 9 cents per share. Guess there wasn't a chance of that, huh?

Continue reading Ciena lost money, missed expectations in Q2

Ciena lost money, missed expectations in Q2 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading AT&T (T) still rings true

AT&T (T) still rings true originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) -- my top pick for 2009 -- is one the world's best-managed telecom companies," says global expert Nick Lanyi in his income-focused advisory service, High-Yield International.

Lanyi states, "The dominant provider of wireline phone service in France, FTE also is the leading wireless provider in the country and a major wireless and broadband-Internet provider throughout Europe.

"About 40% of the company's profits come from outside of France, including exposure to emerging markets with excellent long-term growth potential, including Poland and several African countries.

"FTE has invested heavily in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and its leadership in this area -- 5.4 million customers in France -- has given it a foot in the door in many homes, allowing the company to generate strong sales growth for its high-speed Internet services. FTE has relatively strong profit margins and has succeeded in cutting costs in recent years.

Continue reading Top Stock Picks '09: France Telecom (FTE)

Top Stock Picks '09: France Telecom (FTE) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Telecommunication concern Verizon (NYSE: VZ), whose competitors include AT&T (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), and Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), reported earnings for the third quarter on Monday, and investors could not have been happier. As Wall Street continued its painful bearish slide, shareholders of Verizon were bragging about the 10% rise in the company's stock price. Question is, should you be a buyer of Verizon's stock at this point?

The numbers were decent enough. According to the press release, earnings per share were $0.66. Management only succeeded at matching expectations for Q3, according to this earnings-preview piece by Brent Archer. Honestly, I was surprised at the big pop in the stock yesterday. Considering how badly the markets have been doing, and the fact that we're facing a global recession, I would have figured on a more muted response to Verizon's numbers. After all, if we are facing a tough recession (and I'm fully on board with that sentiment), what's going to happen to the growth rate of the FiOS product? That product is doing well, as are other parts of the Verizon portfolio, but I wouldn't have been a buyer into the stock's strength today. And I say that without a doubt.

But, with Verizon, there is that great dividend yield and cash-flow growth. Operational cash flow from continuing operations was up almost 6%, and capital expenditures decreased. That's great news for dividend investors, as more free cash was left over. I think the market looked at Verizon as being oversold and decided to buy in. The company seemed to have a good Q3, and I think long-term investors will definitely do well with the stock; in fact, the press release mentioned that management saw fit to increase its dividend 7% during the quarter, expressing confidence in the company's current business models. But I believe even longer-term thinkers would do well to wait for a pullback in the share price before either initiating a new position or adding to an existing holding. I simply think there was too much excitement around the stock after its report.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Verizon: Good dividend stock (at a lower price) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.