In a market environment that has put a premium on playing
defense, it is not surprising that telecommunications has been one
of the top-performing sectors. Within the S&P 500,
telecommunications is the smallest sector weight at just under 3.3
percent, but that diminutive status belies the stellar returns
offered by the likes of AT&T (NYSE:
T
) and Verizon (NYSE:
VZ
).
Year-to-date, the two Dow components have jumped 23.1 percent
and 10.5 percent, respectively. Given the commanding weights
AT&T and Verizon have in domestically-focused telecom ETFs, it
is no surprise those funds have been stalwarts as well.
Telecom ETFs with a global bias have been a different story and
following a recent rally for global telecom issues, iShares Global
Chief Investment Strategist Russ Koesterich said it might be time
to lighten the load. In
a recent blog post
, Koesterich said his neutral stance on international telecoms is
based on valuation.
"As discussed in previous posts, while I believe that investors
should emphasize dividends in their portfolios, this does not mean
paying any price for income," wrote Koesterich. "Telecom still
provides a rich yield, but the cost of generating that income
stream has risen. The sector as represented by the S&P Global
Telecommunications Sector Index now trades at approximately 1.8x
price-to-book (P/B), a premium to its average valuation over the
past five years. The stocks also appear increasingly expensive
based on price-to-earnings (P/E), with the sector trading at 15.4x
earnings, a hefty premium to its history."
The The iShares S&P Global Telecommunications Sector Index
Fund (NYSE:
IXP
) features a 30-day SEC yield of almost five percent and the $576.4
million fund allocates 29 percent of its weight to AT&T and
Verizon.
IXP is up almost eight percent year-to-date. However, the
iShares Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Sector Index Fund (NYSE:
IYZ
), which also devotes about 29 percent of its weight to AT&T
and Verizon, has surged 14.5 percent this year. IYZ has a 30-day
SEC yield of 3.14 percent.
The dominance of domestic telecom ETFs does not end with the
rivalry between IXP and IYZ. The Vanguard Telecom Services ETF
(NYSE:
VOX
), which features an expense ratio of just 0.19 percent, is up 14.3
percent this year. VOX allocates almost 45 percent of its weight to
Verizon and AT&T.
Despite a robust dividend yield of 6.2 percent, the SPDR S&P
International Telecommunications Sector ETF (NYSE: ) is the laggard
of the group with a year-to-date gain of just 0.13 percent.
Compounding the woes for global telecoms is mediocrity
profitability as Koesterich points out.
"Based on return on assets (ROA), telecom companies are also
less profitable relative to their history than other sectors," the
iShares strategist wrote. "In other words, while most segments of
the market are experiencing above-average profitability, this is no
longer true for global telecom companies in aggregate. Mediocre
profitability is also evident on a relative basis; comparing the
return-on-equity (ROE) of the sector at 11.2% to the global sector
average of 21.2% also suggests that telecom stocks now look less
compelling as compared to other sector plays."
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