Two top picks for income and growth

Article Excerpt

These telecom firms’ recent acquisitions cut their reliance on traditional telephones and let them profit from growing markets, like Latin America, and highdemand services, such as mobile video. AT&T INC. $34 (New York symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 6.2 billion; Market cap: $210.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 5.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.att.com) is the largest wireless provider in the U.S., with 126.4 million subscribers. It also sells phone, TV and high-speed Internet access to 64.1 million users. The company recently completed its $48.5-billion purchase (70% stock and 30% cash) of DirecTV, which has 19.6 million satellite TV customers in the U.S. and 12.5 million in Latin America. In the three months ended September 30, 2015, DirecTV boosted AT&T’s revenue by 18.6%, to $39.1 billion from $33.0 billion a year earlier. Excluding costs related to the deal and other unusual items, earnings rose 13.8%, to $0.74 from $0.65. The company holds cash of…