Verizon Is the Dow’s Worst Performing Stock in 2017

[cnxvideo id=”550173″ placement=”ros”]Dow Jones Industrial Average A component Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is off to a rocky start in 2017. Year to date, the shares traded down 7.02% as of Friday’s close. The company missed both quarterly and full-year earnings and revenues estimates when it reported earnings last week.

Not only did the telecom giant miss estimates, its outlook was weak, and that brought on a flurry of analyst changes, most of which were lower. The company forecast 2017 revenue flat on an organic basis, but that does not include divestitures of some assets and the still-pending acquisition of Yahoo.

On the upside, Verizon’s 4.7% dividend yield keeps investors and analysts in the stock, as does rising data usage. On the downside, the U.S. wireless market is saturated and subscriber growth depends on stealing customers from competitors, a move that generally involves price promotions.

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Here’s how a couple of analysts looked at the company after the earnings report.

Verizon was maintained as Hold at Jefferies, but the firm lowered its target price from $53 to $51 and noted:

Results were indicative of the highly promotional fourth quarter, highlighted by an aggressive iPhone 7 promotion. While handset additions were positive, margins paid a steep price. ARPA and churn also disappointed. In our view, investors will be disappointed with guidance that implies only 1% EPS growth, well below expectations and prior commentary, driven primarily by expected continued ARPA pressures.

A more upbeat reading came from Merrill Lynch, which maintained its Buy rating and $59 price objective:

Verizon has the most defensible wireless subscriber base in the industry with superior profitability. The company emerged from the recent spectrum auction with a stronger balance sheet post-asset divestitures. We expect Verizon’s earnings growth to outpace peers.

How Verizon is positioning itself against it chief rival AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is another issue for investors to keep in mind. Both companies have been chasing deals for content, but the new administration in Washington may force them to hit the pause button. President Trump already has expressed reservations about AT&T’s interest in merging with Time Warner.

Verizon’s stock closed up about 1% on Friday, at $49.60 in a 52-week range of $46.01 to $56.95. The consensus price target is $52.19.

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