Expanding TV Service Should Fuel Growth

Article Excerpt

AT&T INC. $40 (New York symbol T; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 6.1 billion; Market cap: $244.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) is investing heavily in its U-Verse television service, which will help offset declining revenue from its traditional phone operations. It currently has 126,000 U-Verse customers, but aims to expand that to 1 million by the end of 2008. The extra spending will cut AT&T’s 2008 earnings by $0.12 a share to $0.14 a share, and offset strong growth at its wireless operations. Still, AT&T will probably earn $3.18 a share in 2007, and the stock trades at just 12.6 times that estimate. AT&T has increased its quarterly dividend by 12.7%, from $0.355 a share to $0.40. The new annual rate of $1.60 yields 4.0%. The company is also using its strong cash flow to buy back shares. Under its latest authorization, it aims to repurchase 6.6% of its shares by the end of 2009. AT&T is a buy. buy…