Zacks Industry Outlook Highlights: AT&T, Verizon Communications, Comcast, Frontier Communications And CenturyLink

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 14, 2017 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Industry: Telecom, Part 1, including AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) , Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) , Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ:CMCSA) , Frontier Communications Corp. (NYSE:T) and CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL). (NYSE:T) .

Industry: Telecom, Part 1

Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/136992/telecommunications-industry-outlook---november-2017

After a lukewarm first half of 2017, most of the major telecommunications stocks performed well in the third quarter. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Trump has given indications of leniency compared with the Obama administration. The FCC is most likely to roll back a slew of stringent regulations of the previous regime. Its stance of being less restrictive will aid mergers and acquisitions, which are likely to spur growth in 2018.

Momentum to Continue in 2018

A growing economy speeds up the demand for real-time voice, data and video manifold. The escalation in demand has encouraged telecom service providers to undertake large network extensions while upgrading plans. The rising demand for technologically superior products has been a silver lining for the telecommunications industry in an otherwise tough environment. This in turn has given a boost to the demand for telecom equipment manufacturers.

Additionally, a major characteristic of the industry is that it is immune to international geopolitical disturbances, even when these lead to economic fluctuations. The need to remain connected springs from our earliest tendencies to communicate with our fellow human beings. An era of digitization and technology is essentially built on this human craving. It is here that telecommunications come to the fore as a necessary utility. Consequently, any non-U.S. economic volatility is not expected to have an immediate effect on the industry.

Furthermore, Trump’s proposed policy changes have made the overall economic outlook fairly bullish. Major proposals -- such as a pledge to spend $1 trillion in infrastructure projects over a period of 10 years, overhaul of the tax structure to reduce tax burden and easy regulatory policies -- are likely to spur higher consumer spending that may create about 25 million new jobs over a decade. This, in turn, will fuel long-term economic growth.

A Close Watch on Net Neutrality

On August 2017, the FCC closed the window for comments and replies after receiving 22 million comments on Net Neutrality rules. The regulatory body will examine these suggestions before taking a final call. Notably, in May 2017, the FCC voted 2-1 to start the formal process of unwinding the Net Neutrality rules.

In January 2017, Trump elected existing Republican commissioner Ajit Pai as the new Chairman of the FCC. Appointing Pai as the head of the regulatory body appears to have put Net Neutrality back on the front burner as he is a staunch opponent of the measure.

Trump himself is also a strong critic of Net Neutrality. There is little doubt that if the FCC scraps its laws either fully or partially, the ISP industry will be the major beneficiary. Leading ISPs such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp. decided to challenge the Net Neutrality laws in the Supreme Court. All three above-mentioned stocks currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Telecom – Media Convergence a Reality Now

Massive growth of smartphones and tablets, along with continuous development of high-speed data transfer technologies, has acted as a key driver of the convergence of the Telecom and Media sectors. Cable TV giant Comcast became a media mogul after acquiring NBC Universal in 2011. AT&T is currently awaiting the regulatory approval for its proposed $85.4 billion cash-and-stock deal to acquire media giant Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX). Verizon has already acquired AOL and the internet-based assets of Yahoo (NASDAQ:AABA) to establish a strong foothold in the Telecom – Media space. The company is also mulling over buying out any powerful media giant to remain competitive.

Advertisement on the mobile video platform is gradually shifting from simple selling of banner ads on the mobile web to automated or programmatic ad selling. Pay-TV operators are steadily adopting the data-driven advertising technique that is already popular in the web-based advertisement arena. To derive maximum synergy from the combined video content and video-distribution platform, these companies are extensively penetrating the advertising technology market. Inclusions of dynamic ad-insertion, targeted audience advertising and data-driven TV advertisements are steps toward the same objective.

Wireline Industry – Going All Out on Consolidation

In the last decade, U.S. wireline phone companies have lost a significant number of customers to wireless service providers and cable multi-service operators (MSOs). In order to tackle this critical situation, wireline operators have decided to merge to gain economies of scale with respect to fiber optic cable networking and cloud-based network services. Meanwhile, small and medium business (SMB) services have become a high revenue-generating segment in the data communications industry.

In April 2016, Frontier Communications Corp. completed the purchase of Verizon’s wireline assets in California, Florida and Texas. Currently, the company operates landline business and provides broadband, video, voice and FiOS services in the three states. Recently, in a cash and stock transaction, CenturyLink Inc. has acquired Level 3 Communications Inc.

Pay-TV Spending Continues to Rise in Future

In June 2017, research firm Strategy Analytics estimated that annual spending on subscription video and TV services in the United States will reach $130.3 billion in 2019.Major pay-TV operators, who offer both traditionally managed TV services and next-generation online services, will have nearly 80% of the market share till 2022. They will continue to do so despite facing intensified competition from over-the-top (OTT) service providers.The pay-TV operator’s average revenue is still 10 times higher than that of the online-video-streaming service providers.

Valuation Indicates Strong Upside

Going by P/E (price to earnings per share) valuation metrics, which is often used to value telecom sector stocks, the industry looks stable at this stage. The industry currently has a trailing 12-month P/E ratio of 15.79x, which is below the median value of 16.74x and the S&P 500’s trailing 12-month P/E ratio of 20.67x.

Additionally, the reading compares favorably with the market at large, as the current P/E for the S&P 500 is pegged at 20.48x and the median level is 19.40x. On the other hand, current P/E of the telecom industry is 14.70x with a median of 15.33x. Therefore, at present, the telecom industry looks undervalued compared to the overall market. This indicates a near-term upside potential for the stocks.

Another commonly used valuation metric for this sector is P/S (price to sales) which also depicts the same picture. The industry’s current P/S of 1.46x compares favorably with the market at large, as the current P/S for the S&P 500 is at 3.40x and the median level is 3.10x.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has nearly tripled the market from 1988 through 2015. Its average gain has been a stellar +26% per year.See these high-potential stocks free >>.

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB): https://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Zacks-Investment-Research/57553657748?ref=ts

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

support@zacks.com

https://www.zacks.com/

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.