There was a time, not too long ago, when you could buy a mega cap stock with a solid divided and ignore it for decades. You knew the dividend check was always going to clear, and the company’s Board of Directors was going to ensure growth of that dividend over time. Somewhere along the way, several of these stalwarts of industry slipped up along the way. Today’s Bear of the Day belongs to one of those industry titans which has sort of slipped up over the last five years or so.
I’m talking about Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) AT&T (T). AT&T provides telecommunications and technology services worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Communications and Latin America. The company is in the Wireless National industry which ranks in the Bottom 23% of our Zacks Industry Rank.
The reason for the unfavorable Zacks Rank is that 4 analysts have cut their earnings expectations for the current year. What’s worse is that 7 analysts have done so for next year. The bearish moves have cut the current year Zacks Consensus Estimate from $2.22 to $2.20 over the last 30 days, while next year’s number is down from $2.34 to $2.14 over the last 90 days.
The stock has been moving down since the start of December. It was nearly $24 then, and is off 10% since then. This is coming after a big move higher from lows of $14 in January of last year.
Investors looking for other stocks within the industry that are in the good graces of our Zacks Rank have a couple of choices to investigate further. Cambium Networks (CMBM) and Cogent Communications (CCOI) are both Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stocks within the Wireless National industry.
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