VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $47 - New York symbol VZ

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $47 (New York symbol VZ, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 4.1 billion; Market cap: $192.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.4; Dividend yield: 4.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.verizon.com) has 110.8 million wireless users, 18.7 million traditional phone clients and 19.7 million high-speed Internet and TV subscribers. The company recently paid $4.4 billion for AOL, which operates several popular websites, including The Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget. Verizon has since launched go90, a free app that lets users watch videos on mobile devices. This service incorporates AOL’s unique technology, which uses analytics software to place ads on websites. That should help it attract advertisers and offset its costs. Meanwhile, Verizon’s earnings rose 16.9% in the three months ended September 30, 2015, to $1.04 a share from $0.89 a year earlier. Overall revenue gained 5.0%, to $33.2 billion from $31.6 billion, as a 5.4% rise in wireless sales offset a 2.3% decline from its other services. Verizon ended the latest quarter with long-term debt of $105.1 billion, or a manageable 55% of its market cap. It also held cash of $4.2 billion. The company will likely earn $3.97 a share in 2015, and the stock trades at 11.8 times that figure. The $2.26 dividend yields 4.8%. Verizon is a buy.

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