Verizon Communications Analyst Turns Bullish, Expects Superior 2024 Performance Over T-Mobile, AT&T

Shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) have been in focus following news of a merger between Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) and EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS).

Contrary to peers, Verizon should deliver an improvement in postpaid phone net additions, despite a decline in market share, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets.

The Verizon Communications Analyst: Brandon Nispel upgraded the rating for Verizon Communications from Sector Weight to Overweight, with a price target of $45.

The Verizon Communications Thesis: The company is likely to report year-on-year improvements in postpaid phone net adds in every quarter in 2024, versus declines for T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ: TMUS) and AT&T Inc (NYSE: T), Nispel said in the upgrade note.

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“We expect VZ's Consumer Broadband business to achieve 1.16M net adds in '23 and 1.03M in '24, which compares to our expectations for T of -170K in '23 and -96K in '24,” the analyst wrote. “We expect VZ to outperform T given VZ's growing FiOS (Fiber) and 5G Home (FWA) service, and relatively smaller amount of Non-Fiber (DSL and Other) customers,” he added.

“VZ EBITDA growth should go from 0% in '23 to >2% in '24, which would represent VZ's second fastest adj. EBITDA growth rate since 2018,” Nispel further stated.

VZ Price Action: Shares of Verizon were up 1.08% to $39.30 at the time of publication Wednesday.

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