Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is scheduled to report its third-quarter financial results before the markets open on Thursday. Previously, the company reported solid earnings this summer, but revenues came in short of expectations driving the stock down about 10%. The analysts note that management kept guidance in line with expectations so that may hold for this quarter, although this is excluding the impact of the strike-related work stoppage.
The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for $0.99 in earnings per share (EPS) and $31.08 billion. The same period of last year reportedly had $1.04 in EPS on $33.16 billion in revenue.
In a recent study, Rootmetrics ranked the top four U.S. wireless carriers for the first half of 2016 on a variety of metrics that the company says indicates which wireless networks best respond to customers’ mobile expectations. The short answer was that Verizon took first place on all five specific metrics, as well as the overall best performer.
The company announced its most recent acquisition of Fleetmatics Group during this quarter, as well as a play for Yahoo as well, but Yahoo is still up in the air. So, it appears that Verizon is moving toward becoming a mega-data and internet company that happens to do telecom as well. This is even more apparent with the divestiture of the company’s landlines.
Prior to the release of the earnings report, a few analysts weighed in on Verizon:
- HSBC reiterated a Hold rating with a $54 price target.
- Jefferies reiterated a Hold rating.
- Nomura reiterated a Hold rating with a $47 price target.
- Barclays reiterated an Equal Weight rating with a $52 price target.
- Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating with a $60 price target.
Excluding Wednesday’s move, Verizon has outperformed the broad markets, with the stock up nearly 9% year to date.
Shares of Verizon were trading up 0.5% at $50.49 on Wednesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $54.63 and a 52-week trading range of $43.79 to $56.95.
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