Verizon sees wireless as key to its growth

Article Excerpt

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $32 (New York symbol VZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $89.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; WSSF Rating: Average) gets 70% of its profits and 45% of its revenue from its wireless division, which consists of its 55% stake in Verizon Wireless. (U.K.-based Vodafone plc owns the other 45%.) Verizon Wireless has 87.7 million customers in 50 states. The remainder comes from the traditional telephone division, which has over 35 million household and business clients in 25 U.S. states. In the past few years, Verizon has built up its wireless business and cut its reliance on its traditional phone operations. That helped its revenue rise from $71.3 billion in 2004 to $97.4 billion in 2008. Earnings fell from $2.59 a share (or a total of $7.3 billion) in 2004 to $2.36 a share (or $6.8 billion) in 2007, but rebounded to $2.54 a share (or $7.2 billion in 2008). Alltel added 13 million wireless…