5 Telecom and Media Stocks to Own for the Rest of 2015

July 20, 2015 by Lee Jackson

Comcast-LogoThe higher the market goes, the more dangerous things are getting, and now may be a great time for stock investors to start rotating out of momentum into solid growth stocks. One good area to rotate to may be the telecom and cloud stocks. In a new report, Oppenheimer has five to buy for the rest of 2015 that make good sense.

Oppenheimer previewed stocks that will be reporting starting this week and has five quality companies investors can feel good about buying now. With the market trading at over 18 times trailing earnings, now may be a very good time to take winners and rotate the capital to growth stories with less volatility.

AT&T

The nation’s largest carrier is also a free cash flow champ. AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has dominated the telecom scene for years, and while some analysts are lowering the company’s postpaid adds for the second quarter, many across Wall Street are becoming increasingly bullish on the Mexico business and the completion of the DirecTV deal, both of which look to add solid future revenues.

The Oppenheimer team points out in the report that AT&T provides the highest dividend yield among the mega-caps at 5.37%. With the close of DirecTV acquisition, the dividend payout will improve to 70% (from 96% as a standalone figure last year), providing a much more comfortable level for sustainable dividend growth going forward as the company will have a much safer margin for coverage.

With content spanning not only the DirecTV offerings, but also the U-verse packages that AT&T provides, investors nervous over a very shaky market can feel good about adding the stock to portfolios now.

AT&T investors are paid an outstanding 5.37% dividend. The Oppenheimer price target for the stock is $42. The Thomson/First Call consensus price target is $36.54. The shares closed trading on Friday at 35.01.

ALSO READ: 3 Oil and Gas Analyst Stocks to Buy Now
Comcast

The stock was recently added to the Russell 1000 and could have big upside potential. Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is a leading media stock and is growing earnings substantially with extremely strong content revenue growth. Increased revenue at NBC Universal also is giving the company some earnings tailwinds, and a growing sports lineup is adding to revenues.

After over a year of haggling with regulators, Comcast abandoned plans in the spring to acquire Time Warner Cable, which was ultimately bought by Charter Communications. Comcast reported better-than-expected profit and revenue growth in its first quarter, as its broadband division logged its strongest revenue growth in more than four years.

Wall Street analysts see very strong performance at NBC Universal, and cite “Jurassic World” and the “Minions” spin-off as two movies that are expected to be huge revenue generators. They also think that the AT&T-DirecTV deal closing could actually drive incremental demand for Comcast programming. The Oppenheimer team sees a cable giant like Comcast as a top growth story that still has plenty of room to run, as well as generating solid earnings to support continued stock buybacks.

Comcast investors are paid a 1.56% dividend. The Oppenheimer price target of $65 is lower than the consensus target of $67.96. Comcast closed trading Friday at $64.27.

ALSO READ: UBS Sees Top Tech Communications Equipment Stocks as Cheap Now

Equinix

This stock will set you back a few bucks, but it has a stellar upside potential. Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ: EQIX) had earnings per share revisions moved up 21.7% and target price revisions up 11.9% over the past six months. The company provides data center services to protect and connect the information assets for the enterprises, financial services companies, and content and network providers, primarily in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific. It connects companies directly to their customers and partners in networked data centers through the Equinix interconnection platform.

The Oppenheimer team thinks the company is deserving of trading to a higher multiple in the 17.5 times range, based on the company’s $1.3 billion EBITDA estimate for this year. The analysts cite the company’s strong double-digit top-line growth, solid corporate execution, multiyear secular tailwinds from the shift to hybrid cloud architectures, and increasing return of capital to shareholders as all positives that justify the Outperform rating.

Equinix investors are paid a 2.57% dividend. The Oppenheimer price target is $305, well above the consensus target of $277.19. Shares closed Friday at $263.50.

RackSpace Hosting

This company is a leader in managed cloud. RackSpace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) is the founder of OpenStack, the open source operating system for the cloud. It offers a diverse portfolio of cloud computing services, including public cloud, dedicated cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud. All of its services are committed to open technologies. The equipment — including servers, routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, cabinets, software and wiring — that is required to deliver services is typically purchased and managed by the company.

The stock was absolutely shredded when first-quarter earnings beat analysts’ estimates, while sales narrowly missed projections. The big problem was that Rackspace’s forecast for second-quarter sequential revenue growth of 1.5% to 2.5% was well below analysts’ estimates. The key for investors is that the company still reiterated its full-year guidance, even with the reduced expectations for the current quarter.

ALSO READ: 5 High-Dividend Growth Stocks to Buy Now

The Oppenheimer analysts feel that the company can trade up to 10 times the firm’s 2016 EBITDA estimate of $799 million. They see solid top line growth and expect EBITDA growth to be in the mid-teens area over the next several years.

The Oppenheimer price target for the stock, which is rated Outperform, is posted at a $55. The consensus objective is $50.78. Shares closed Friday at $36.82

Zayo Group

This company jumps into the top picks and had a very well-received initial public offering last fall. Zayo Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) provides comprehensive bandwidth infrastructure services in over 300 markets throughout the United States and Europe. Zayo delivers a suite of dark fiber, mobile infrastructure and cloud and connectivity services to wireline and wireless customers, data centers, Internet content providers, high-bandwidth enterprises and government agencies across its robust 82,000-route-mile network. The company also offers 45 carrier-neutral data center facilities across the United States and France. Zayo was the first to offer bandwidth shopping and buying in under two minutes through Tranzact.

The Oppenheimer teams loves the strong defensive business model and cite the company’s solid growth trajectory, the highly recurring revenue model, high incremental EBITDA margins, management’s experience and the ability to drive high returns on invested capital. Like others in the sector, Zayo’s favorable multiyear secular tailwinds, as well as the increased probability of a real estate investment trust (REIT) structure over the long term, make it a solid buy for investors now.

The Oppenheimer price target is $32, the consensus target is $30.80, and the stock closed on Friday at $24.90 per share.

ALSO READ: 4 Large Cap Biotech Stocks to Buy Before Earnings

All these stocks have solid growth potential, but are way down the ladder when it comes to volatility. With the chances for a perhaps serious market correction mounting, it makes good sense to start raising some cash and rotating out of high-beta momentum stocks.

Sponsored: Find a Qualified Financial Advisor

Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to 3 fiduciary financial advisors in your area in 5 minutes. Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests. If you’re ready to be matched with local advisors that can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.