Verizon lifts its capital spending

Article Excerpt

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $40 is a buy. The telecom provider (New York symbol VZ; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector, Shares outstanding: 4.2 billion; Market cap: $168.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 6.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.verizon.com) added 568,000 wireless phone subscribers under long-term contracts (net of cancellations) in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 26.5% from 449,000 a year earlier. Those new users, along with higher demand for premium subscription plans, helped lift revenue by 1.6%, to $35.68 billion from $35.13 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings improved 1.9%, to $1.10 from $1.08. For 2025, Verizon expects its revenue from its main wireless division will rise between 2.0% and 2.8% as more users upgrade to faster 5G speeds. The company also expects to spend between $17.5 billion and $18.5 billion on network improvements, up from $17.1 billion in 2024. That higher spending will help it take advantage of rising demand for data-intensive artificial intelligence services. Verizon also expects its earnings in 2025 will…