T vs. VZ, LUMN, IDT, CNSL, ATNI, AMX, BCE, ORAN, TEF, and VIV
Should you be buying AT&T stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of AT&T include Verizon Communications (VZ), Lumen Technologies (LUMN), IDT (IDT), Consolidated Communications (CNSL), ATN International (ATNI), América Móvil (AMX), BCE (BCE), Orange (ORAN), Telefónica (TEF), and Telefônica Brasil (VIV). These companies are all part of the "telephone communication, except radio" industry.
Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, risk, community ranking, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, dividends and earnings.
Verizon Communications has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AT&T has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Verizon Communications presently has a consensus price target of $45.68, indicating a potential upside of 13.88%. AT&T has a consensus price target of $22.33, indicating a potential upside of 17.48%. Given Verizon Communications' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AT&T is more favorable than Verizon Communications.
Verizon Communications pays an annual dividend of $2.66 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.6%. AT&T pays an annual dividend of $1.11 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Verizon Communications pays out 99.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AT&T pays out 59.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Verizon Communications has raised its dividend for 19 consecutive years. Verizon Communications is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
AT&T has a net margin of 10.41% compared to AT&T's net margin of 8.38%. AT&T's return on equity of 20.10% beat Verizon Communications' return on equity.
AT&T received 315 more outperform votes than Verizon Communications when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 67.93% of users gave AT&T an outperform vote while only 58.99% of users gave Verizon Communications an outperform vote.
62.1% of Verizon Communications shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.1% of AT&T shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Verizon Communications shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of AT&T shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Verizon Communications had 2 more articles in the media than AT&T. MarketBeat recorded 73 mentions for Verizon Communications and 71 mentions for AT&T. Verizon Communications' average media sentiment score of 0.38 beat AT&T's score of 0.28 indicating that AT&T is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
AT&T has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Verizon Communications. AT&T is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Verizon Communications, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
AT&T beats Verizon Communications on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding T and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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