Verizon Communications Inc.

CAMPBELL SOUP CO. $43 (www.campbellsoupcompany.com) reported that its sales rose 2.7% in the fiscal year ended August 3, 2014, to $8.3 billion from $8.05 billion in fiscal 2013. That’s mainly due to acquisitions and price increases, which offset weaker sales of canned soup in the U.S. Earnings per share fell 1.2%, to $2.45 from $2.48. However, the company plans to launch 200 new products in fiscal 2015, which should help raise its annual sales to $10 billion within the next five years. Buy. VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $50 (www.verizon.com) has increased its quarterly dividend by 3.8%, to $0.55 a share from $0.53. The new annual rate of $2.20 yields 4.4%. Best Buy. CHEVRON CORP. $124 (www.chevron.com) plans to sell $10 billion worth of less-important assets over the next three years. That’s equal to 4% of its $235.2-billion market cap. It will invest the cash in bigger projects, like two offshore gas projects in Australia. Best Buy.

TIM HORTONS INC., $80.44, New York symbol THI, jumped 27% this week after agreeing to a friendly takeover offer from Miami-based Burger King Worldwide (New York symbol BKW). The combined firm would be the world’s third-largest fast-food operator, after McDonald’s and Yum Brands, with annual sales of $23 billion U.S. and 18,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. Canada will supply 67% of the merged company’s revenue, followed by the U.S. (20%) and other countries (13%). The Tim Hortons and Burger King chains will operate independently but will probably share some back office and distribution networks. Tim Hortons can also use Burger King’s expertise to expand in the U.S. and other countries....

ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $58.24 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340-777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.9 million; Market cap: $929.5 million; Yield: 1.8%) closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) late last year. As a result, it now holds cash of $407.6 million, or $24.64 a share, and has paid off its $271.1 million of debt. The company bought Alltel from Verizon Wireless for just $223 million in April 2010. Atlantic now has wireless and wireline telecom operations in the U.S. Southwest, New England, New York State, Guyana, Bermuda and parts of the Caribbean islands....

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF, $38.74, symbol XLK on New York (Units outstanding: 340.3 million; Market cap: $13.2 billion; www.spdrs.com), aims to track the S&P Technology Select Sector Index, which consists of tech stocks in the S&P 500 Index. The fund’s MER is just 0.16%. The $13.6-billion fund’s top 10 holdings are Apple, Google, Microsoft, Verizon, IBM, Cisco Systems, Intel, AT&T, Oracle and Qualcomm. The ETF is broken down by segment as follows: technology, hardware, storage and peripherals, 20.6%; software, 16.6%, information technology services, 15.8%; Internet software and services, 15.1%; diversified telecommunication services, 11.4%; semiconductors and semiconductor equipment, 10.4%; communications equipment, 8.0%; and electronic equipment, instruments and components, 2.1%....

ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $58.24 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340-777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.9 million; Market cap: $929.5 million; Yield: 1.8%) closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) late last year. As a result, it now holds cash of $407.6 million, or $24.64 a share, and has paid off its $271.1 million of debt.

The company bought Alltel from Verizon Wireless for just $223 million in April 2010.

Atlantic now has wireless and wireline telecom operations in the U.S. Southwest, New England, New York State, Guyana, Bermuda and parts of the Caribbean islands.

...

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $52 (New York symbol VZ, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 4.1 billion; Market cap: $213.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.verizon.com) recently completed its $130-billion purchase of the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it didn’t already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group. The company now owns 100% of Verizon Wireless, which sells wireless services to 104.6 million subscribers in the U.S. Wireless now supplies 68% of Verizon’s revenue. The remaining 32% comes from its 20.4 million regular phone customers and 16.2 million high-speed Internet and digital TV subscribers. Thanks mainly to the Verizon Wireless purchase, the company’s earnings per share jumped 24.7% in the three months ended June 30, 2014, to $0.91 from $0.73 a year earlier. Revenue gained 5.7%, to $31.5 billion from $29.8 billion. The company should earn $3.54 a share in 2014, and the stock trades at 14.7 times that forecast. The $2.12 dividend yields 4.1%....

SPDR S&P 500 ETF $197.12 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major in U.S. companies that are chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan Chase, IBM, Chevron, General Electric, Pfizer, Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon, Wells Fargo and AT&T. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets.

If you want exposure to the S&P 500 Index, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a buy.

...

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $52 (New York symbol VZ, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 4.1 billion; Market cap: $213.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.verizon.com) recently completed its $130-billion purchase of the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it didn’t already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group.

The company now owns 100% of Verizon Wireless, which sells wireless services to 104.6 million subscribers in the U.S. Wireless now supplies 68% of Verizon’s revenue. The remaining 32% comes from its 20.4 million regular phone customers and 16.2 million high-speed Internet and digital TV subscribers. Thanks mainly to the Verizon Wireless purchase, the company’s earnings per share jumped 24.7% in the three months ended June 30, 2014, to $0.91 from $0.73 a year earlier. Revenue gained 5.7%, to $31.5 billion from $29.8 billion.

The company should earn $3.54 a share in 2014, and the stock trades at 14.7 times that forecast. The $2.12 dividend yields 4.1%.

...

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day, at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

SPDR S&P 500 ETF $187.75 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers; www.spdrs.com) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major U.S. companies that are chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group.

The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, ExxonMobil, Google, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan Chase, IBM, Chevron, General Electric, Pfizer, Berkshire Hathaway, Verizon and Wells Fargo. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets.

...