verizon

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.

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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....

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC., $47.56, New York symbol VZ, has completed its purchase of the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it didn’t already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD). The company now owns 100% of Verizon Wireless, which sells wireless services to 102.8 million subscribers in the U.S. In 2013, it supplied 67% of Verizon’s revenue and 81% of its earnings. Verizon paid $130 billion in cash and shares for Vodafone’s stake. To put that in context, Verizon’s market cap (or the total value of all its outstanding shares) is $196.7 billion....

INTEL CORP. $25 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 5.0 billion; Market cap: $125.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.intel.com) is selling its Intel Media business, which is developing a service called OnCue that lets users watch TV shows over the Internet.

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC....

AT&T and Verizon keep making their wireless networks faster, which is fuelling demand for new services, like mobile video. They are also making upgrades to their regular phone networks in order to spur sales of high-speed Internet access....

AT&T and Verizon keep making their wireless networks faster, which is fuelling demand for new services, like mobile video. Upgrades to their regular phone networks are also boosting sales of high-speed Internet access. Thanks to these strengths, both companies have plenty of room to raise their dividends.

AT&T INC....

ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $54.99 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340- 777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.8 million; Market cap: $867.3 million; Yield: 2.0%) has closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York)....

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $48 (New York symbol VZ, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.9 billion; Market cap: $139.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www. verizon.com) is buying the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it doesn’t already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon Wireless is a joint venture that sells wireless services to 101.2 million U.S. subscribers.

Verizon will pay $130 billion for Vodafone’s stake, including $58.9 billion in cash. It will also issue $60.2 billion of new common shares to Vodafone shareholders, which will give them 30% of the combined firm. Notes and other compensation will cover the remaining $11.0 billion. Verizon expects to close the deal in the first quarter of 2014.

Meanwhile, strong demand for wireless and highspeed Internet increased the company’s earnings by 20.3% in the third quarter of 2013, to $0.77 a share from $0.64 a year earlier. Revenue rose 4.4%, to $30.3 billion from $29.0 billion.
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ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $54.99 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340- 777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.8 million; Market cap: $867.3 million; Yield: 2.0%) has closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York). Atlantic now holds cash of $594.3 million, or $37.61 a share. It has also paid off all of its debt.

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

In the three months ended September 30, 2013, Atlantic’s revenue rose 8.2%, to $79.4 million from $73.2 million a year earlier. Excluding the gain on the Alltel sale, earnings fell sharply, to $1.6 million, or $0.10 a share, from $7.4 million, or $0.47.
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