Verizon Communications Inc.

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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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ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (Toronto symbol AP.UN; www.alliedpropertiesreit.com) owns 134 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.5 million square feet of leasable area....

TELUS CORP. $33 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 645.7 million; Market cap: $21.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) moved up on news that U.S.-based Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) is buying the 45% of the Verizon Wireless joint venture that it does not already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon Wireless has 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. In the wake of the this deal, Verizon announced that it would not enter Canada’s wireless market at this time.

Ottawa still plans to set aside wireless spectrum for new entrants at an auction in January 2014. That could encourage other foreign carriers besides Verizon to expand into Canada. Telus gets a high 53% of its revenue and 67% of its earnings from wireless, so it’s particularly vulnerable to new competition. As well, new regulations that limit roaming charges and let customers cancel their contracts early could dampen the company’s earnings growth.

Telus is still a hold.

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