When it comes to capital expenditures in telecom and the cable industry, just three companies keep the food on the table for the various vendors that supply them. AT&T, Verizon and Comcast spend an aggregate of almost 65% of all the dollars spent every year on capital expenditures. This includes everything from wireless to wireline to infrastructure. One thing is for sure, if you have solid exposure to the big boys, there is a good chance earnings will continue to follow.

A new report from the Telecom and Network equipment team at Cowen points out that, while the first half of the year followed the game plan for the most part, the second half may have a slight decline in spending from what was originally expected. With that in mind, they believe that the future spending winners will depend on what specific projects are funded and pursued by the carriers.

Most of the revenue projection numbers quoted in the Cowen report are from the fiscal year for the companies mentioned of 2013. Needless to say, the percentages could have easily changed in the first half of 2014. With that in mind, investors may want to focus on the large cap stocks to add to solid aggressive growth portfolios.

These are the stocks with some of the biggest exposure to Verizon and Comcast for the capital expenditure spending. Not all are formally covered by Cowen.

Alcatel-Lucent S.A. (NYSE: ALU) receives 11% of its total revenue from Verizon. Its stock has been volatile but has slowly started to gain traction with Wall Street firms. The company delivers high-quality Internet protocol networking and ultra-broadband access solutions to some of the leading service providers in the world, as well as enterprises, including health care trusts, transport companies and major utilities. The Thomson/First Call price target is $4.90. The stock closed Tuesday at $3.77.

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Arris Group Inc. (NASDAQ: ARRS) gets a serious 18.6% of its total revenue from Comcast. The company is in the communication equipment manufacturing industry, and investors saw earnings per share growth of 118.6% last year, and this year is looking solid as well. Arris created digital TV, delivered the first wireless broadband gateway and is pioneering the standards and pathways for tomorrow’s personalized, ultra HD, multi-screen and cloud services. The consensus price target is $35.56. Shares closed Tuesday at $33.96.

Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN) is estimated to do almost 20% of its total revenue with Comcast and Verizon. Many analysts, including the Cowen team, believe Ciena could be the top beneficiary of the increase in wireless spending. The company is rapidly reducing its losses, and the earnings growth outlook for the next five years is also quite promising.

According to Yahoo! Finance, investors can expect Ciena’s earnings to improve at an annual rate of 16.7% for the next five years. The company is rated Outperform at Cowen, which has a price target for the stock of $31. The consensus estimate stands at $28.53. Ciena closed Tuesday at $20.57 a share.

Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is a stock covered by Cowen with an Outperform rating. The company gets a combined 5% of revenue from Comcast and Verizon. The Cowen team has cited several positive catalysts in the pipeline for Cisco, their dominance in wireless equipment and their undisputed “900-pound gorilla” status in the industry. Many firms on Wall Street still feel that the stock is providing investors a good entry point.

Cisco shareholders are paid a solid 3.1% dividend. Cowen has a price target of $30. The consensus target for the networking giant is $25.87. Cisco ended Tuesday at $25.19 a share.

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F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV) does just under 5% of its total revenues with Verizon. The company provides solutions for an application-based world. It helps organizations seamlessly scale cloud, data center and software defined networking deployments to successfully deliver applications to anyone, anywhere, at any time. It is rated Outperform at Cowen, where it has a $132 price target. The consensus target is $122.44. Shares closed Tuesday at $112.12.

Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) does a large 12% of its total revenue with Comcast. The stock got hit hard earlier this month when its forward guidance was far short of some Wall Street expectations. The company is one of the worldwide leaders in video delivery infrastructure for emerging television and video services.

Harmonic’s production-ready innovation enables content and service providers to efficiently create, prepare and deliver differentiated services for television and new media video platforms. The consensus price target is $7.75, versus Tuesday’s closing bell price of $6.28.

Westell Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: WSTL) does a staggering 19.6% of its total revenues with Verizon, so it is very dependent on continued spending from the giant carrier. The company is a leading provider of intelligent site management, in-building wireless, cell site optimization and outside plant solutions focused on innovation and differentiation at the edge of telecommunication networks, where end users connect.

Westell’s comprehensive set of products and solutions enable telecommunication service providers, cell tower operators and other network operators to reduce operating costs and improve network performance. The consensus price target for the stock is $4. Shares closed Tuesday at $2.10.

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