Verizon Communications at $46 And AT&T at $23: Buy, Sell or Hold?
At $46.95 for Verizon (NYSE:VZ | VZ Price Prediction) and $23.21 for AT&T (NYSE:T), both telecom giants screen as range-bound. VZ sits just below its $50.91 52-week high, while T actually trades closer to its $22.32 52-week low after a recent…
At $46.95 for Verizon (NYSE:VZ | VZ Price Prediction) and $23.21 for AT&T (NYSE:T), both telecom giants screen as range-bound. VZ sits just below its $50.91 52-week high, while T actually trades closer to its $22.32 52-week low after a recent downgrade.
Both companies are mid-execution on aggressive fiber rollouts. Verizon closed its Frontier deal in January 2026 and now serves approximately 16.8 million broadband connections under new CEO Dan Schulman.
AT&T closed its Lumen Mass Markets fiber acquisition in February 2026, lifting its footprint to over 37 million fiber locations with a target of 60 million by 2030. Same playbook, very different stock reactions.
The Bull Case: Convergence Is Working
Verizon raised 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $4.95 to $4.99 and posted its first positive Q1 postpaid phone net additions since 2013. Free cash flow guidance of $21.5 billion or more funds a $3.0 billion buyback and the dividend.
AT&T trades at a forward multiple of 10x against guided EPS of $2.25 to $2.35 with a double-digit three-year CAGR. Management is targeting $45 billion in shareholder returns through 2028 and an $8 billion repurchase in 2026 alone. Advanced home internet revenue jumped 27.3%.
The Bear Case: Debt, Downgrades, and Soft Performance
Verizon carries $172.5 billion in total debt post-Frontier, with interest expense up 18.9% YoY. Postpaid ARPA slipped 1.9% and churn ticked to 0.97%.
AT&T was just downgraded by Oppenheimer from Outperform to Perform on low-earth-orbit satellite competition concerns, with the stock hitting a fresh 52-week low. Net leverage is expected to peak near 3.2x post-EchoStar, and legacy revenues are guided to fall 20%+ in 2026.
The Case for Patience
Verizon’s turnaround is real but already priced. AT&T’s discount is real but the downgrade narrative needs to clear. Investors collecting Verizon’s 6.08% yield and AT&T’s 4.93% yield are paid to wait for the next two earnings reports to resolve the divergence.
What the Data Shows
Verizon is up 19.07% year to date against an analyst target of $51.85 from 25 covering analysts (3 Strong Buy, 8 Buy, 14 Hold, 0 Sell), implying roughly 10% upside on a trailing P/E of 11x.
AT&T is down 4.48% YTD, trades at a trailing P/E of 7x, and carries an analyst target of $30.30 (3 Strong Buy, 12 Buy, 10 Hold, 0 Sell) for implied upside near 31%. For context, the S&P 500 is up roughly 7% year to date, so Verizon is meaningfully ahead of the index while AT&T is trailing it. Analyst targets are one input among many.
The Verdict: Hold Both Until the Next Earnings Report
At $46.95 for Verizon and $23.21 for AT&T, both stocks look range-bound. Here is why.
Verizon has done the work, but at 11x earnings near a 52-week high, the easy money from the Schulman turnaround narrative is already in the price. The path to $55 runs through another postpaid beat and visible Frontier synergies. Anything less and the stock retests the 200-day at $44.35.
AT&T looks statistically cheap, but the Oppenheimer downgrade and fresh 52-week low signal the market wants proof that LEO satellite migration is not eroding the broadband moat. Q2 fiber net adds and churn will decide whether $23 was the bottom or a waypoint.
Shareholders are paid handsomely to wait through one more quarter before reassessing positioning at these prices.
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Vandita Jadeja is a financial copywriter who loves to read and write about stocks. She believes in buying and holding for long term gains. Her knowledge of words and numbers helps her write clear stock analysis. She has contributed to several publications, including the Joy Wallet, Benzinga, The Motley Fool and InvestorPlace.
