Topic: Growth Stocks

Windstream Corp. $11 – New York symbol WIN

WINDSTREAM CORP. $11 (New York symbol WIN; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 439.6 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) provides local and long distance telephone service to 3.1 million customers in 16 states. Most of its customers are in rural areas.

Windstream has no wireless operations, so it aims to spur growth with high-speed Internet services.

Recent upgrades to its systems have expanded high-speed availability to 93% of its customers. Just 45% of its residential customers currently use highspeed service, so there’s lots of room to grow. As well, Windstream’s focus on rural areas limits competition from larger phone and cable companies.

In the three months ended June 30, 2008, Windstream’s revenue fell 3.2%, to $799.9 million from $826.7 million a year earlier. That’s mostly due to last year’s sale of its directory publishing operations. Earnings rose 1.7%, to $117.9 million from $115.9 million. Windstream spent $100 million on share repurchases in the latest quarter. Consequently, earnings per share rose 12.5%, to $0.27 from $0.24.

The stock trades at 10.3 times its forecast 2008 earnings of $1.07 a share. It also trades at 4.9 times its cash flow of $2.25 a share.

Windstream plans to spend less on capital upgrades this year than it originally planned, due to a drop in residential construction. That should help it maintain its $1.00 dividend, which yields 9.1%.

Windstream is a buy.

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