STOCKCHASE

At this point in time VZ looks a little better than AT&T, who just came off a bad investment of $4 Billion. Mentioned that the dividend does not get Canadians the dividend tax credit like Canadian telcos, which are good opportunities also.

2012-01-11

BUY

38.260

Great dividend. Would prefer this over AT&T (T-N) because of the growthier aspect. They don't have the wire line exposure of AT&T. Fairly safe name but you probably won't get a ton of growth out of it.

2011-12-14

BUY

35.350

In US is competition between Verizon and AT&T. Both pay a good dividend AT&T is bit better. On the other hand Verizon has growth.

2011-11-23

PAST TOP PICK

35.880

(Top Pick Sep 7/10, Up 24.36%) Got out because he had too much exposure to telecom area. He should have held onto it.

2011-09-23

PAST TOP PICK

35.760

(A Top Pick Sept 07/10. Up 24.81%.) Sold his holdings mid-March.

2011-08-26

DON'T BUY

34.620

Barry Schwartz

Good dividend stock but he would rather focus on Canadian telcos at this time. If you buy US companies (outside of an RRSP), you don't get to keep a lot of the dividend so Canadian telcos make a lot more sense.

2011-08-11

DON'T BUY

36.740

Richard Fogler

New CEO today. You are better off to buy VOD-O who own 45% of VZ. Value of VZ is not reflected in VOD. Should be a big bump over the next year for VOD. He owns VOD.

2011-07-22

DON'T BUY

36.160

He would go with A T & T (T-N). Would be careful with this one. Trading at about 16X earnings. Has run up very recently on the hype of the iPhone. Apple charges them $625 per phone, which they have to that make back on their plans.

2011-02-02

WEAK BUY

34.630

Good dividend. A lot of the cash flow goes to capital expenditures. Likes it but a slow grower.

2010-12-15

BUY on WEAKNESS

34.040

Don Vialoux

Chart shows a nice upward trend and it just broke out of a long-term resistance, which is very important. Seasonally telecommunication sector does very well until the end of January. If you’ve got it, hang in there and Buy on weakness.

2010-12-10

Comment

32.350

Paul Harris, CFA

Verizon or Cisco (CSCO-Q)? He would choose Cisco as you can make some money off this at these levels. Verizon has a very good yield. Spent a lot of money in CapX, which has been paying off.

2010-11-25

BUY

32.720

Hap (Robert) Sneddon FCSI

Almost a pure wireless business now and looks pretty good.

2010-09-28

HOLD

32.090

Telecom sector is a good spot to be in. It’s in the top 5 in the US. Broke through its Dec/09 hi end of it breaks through the Dec/08 high of about $33 and then it wouldn't have any resistance. At top range of the RSI and looks overbought but could still go higher. 6% yield. Stoploss of $28-$29.

2010-09-20

BUY

30.910

Verizon (VZ-N) and AT&T (T-N) are major telecoms. Yield in excess of 6%, which is attractive in an environment where a 10-year bond is 2.75%. Could be a trap where you go for yield but capital depreciates. Doesn't think this is the case. Great cash flow, which they pay in dividends but also build out networks. The drag is their wire line business.

2010-09-14

TOP PICK

30.220

Likes it because of the wireless division and their fiber-to-the-home business. Almost 6.5% dividend. This is more than Canadian telecoms so he thinks this will bring the stock price up.

2010-09-07

Comment

29.840

Don Vialoux

Fundamentally it has shown consistent growth. Everybody loves wireless. Chart shows it has formed a trading range and it is currently testing the top of it. If you are holding up her dividends, continue.

2010-08-27

Comment

30.030

Steven Conville

$30 is pretty close to its all-time highs but it could go to $26 before it got to $35. As far as US telecom stocks go, it is not a bad long-term play.

2010-08-13

DON'T BUY

26.840

Difficulty with large telecoms generally is that they are tied to their wire line legacy business. As that drags them down, wireless builds them up so it is a bit of a wash. Spending huge amounts of money on capital spending in the wireless area. Huge dividend but growth is stagnant.

2010-07-14

Comment

29.060

Steven Conville

Doesn't hold telecoms other than BCE (BCE-T). Think there are better ways to play the technology space rather than the carriers. 6.5% yield.

2010-06-21

Comment

29.560

Spent a lot of time and money on cap X trying to build out their network to compete with AT&T (T-N) with some success. He would prefer AT&T instead as it gives you a solid yield of 6.3%.

2010-04-21

BUY

30.240

David Driscoll

Verizon and AT&T (T-N) performances are very much the same but this one has a much higher wireless exposure. If they ever get AT&T's exclusive contract with Apple broken they would probably perform better. Stock is okay for long-term purchase.

2010-04-07

DON'T BUY

31.280

Really doesn't like the telcos at this time. His model price is $25.60, a -17% differential. More of a yield play with 6.13%.

2010-04-01

DON'T BUY

32.810

Stan Wong

(Market Call Minute.) Telco space is interesting in this one has some yield. Not extremely exciting so he would consider Vodafone (VOD-Q) instead.

2009-12-17

PAST TOP PICK

32.030

(A Top Pick Dec 1/08. Up 10.99%.) A defensive name and a tough time.

2009-11-25

BUY

30.520

David Baskin

Getting a smart phone but the whole iPhone market is getting a little bit crowded. 6.2% dividend. Primarily a yield play. Expect there will be a lot of money sloshing out of the high beta stocks and into the low beta in 2010.

2009-11-19

DON'T BUY

28.640

Ross Healy

Suffered quite a bit in their earnings forecasts. Flattened out a little bit but are now oozing down again. Could see it going down to $26.

2009-10-26

BUY

29.020

There is currency risk, but he likes it because of the growth factor. Invested heavily in fiber to the homes. He likes that growth potential. It is a defensive stock.

2009-10-13

Comment

31.980

Brett Hryb

Very good at managing cash flow so it is good for growth and protection of dividend so dividend should be safe. 5.8% yield. Growth is going to be challenged because of problems on the enterprise side. Wire line side continues to lose lines.

2009-07-29

PAST TOP PICK

30.760

(A Top Pick April 30/08. Down 15.63%.) Likes outlook for their wireless, which they own 50% of. Their fibre to the home is expensive to roll out but is proving to be profitable. Good long-term hold.

2009-05-06

TOP PICK

30.670

$90 billion market cap. Trading at 5 X cash flow. Has been behaving better than its peers and the group is behaving better than the market. Their wireless growth is attractive. Also have an opportunity in the Internet TV space, which they can fund internally.

2008-12-01

BUY

29.720

2 parts to this company. Wireless and wire line/cable. Spending over $19 billion to bring fibre to the home so that they will be the leading content provider. Turning out to be very successful for them.

2008-11-11

TOP PICK

38.480

Just reported excellent earnings. Came off recently because AT&T reported poor earnings last quarter. Investors thought these stocks were very economically sensitive but they are not. The leader in wireless. Spent a lot of money putting fibre into the homes but will be cash flow positive by the end of this year. 4.5% yield.

2008-04-30

DON'T BUY

40.910

Very overvalued, like all the Telcos. He has a model price of $28.10. A 31% negative differential. He can see his model price going lower on this one.

2008-01-17

HOLD

44.930

Peter Hofstra

Good company, pays dividend, Premier operator in wireless industry.

2007-10-16

BUY

42.590

This has been his favourite telephone play for some time. Have had the guts to invest 18-19 billion in fibre to the home in the US. They are also the best and fastest growing in wireless.

2007-05-18

BUY

37.870

In the telecom sector, this would appeal to him the most because of its growth potential. Currently in the midst of spending up to $19 billion to take fibre right to your home. In the long run, this will enable them to offer all kinds of products at the competition will not be able to do.

2007-04-16

HOLD

36.630

Brendan Caldwell

An interesting space with a lot of challenges coming at it. Feels the Internet will be pushing all the telephone companies pretty hard at some point. Probably can't go too far wrong holding this.

2007-02-27

BUY

37.570

Spending a lot on putting fibre into homes giving huge bandwidth. 4.3% dividend. Prefers this to Canadian Telcos. The leading edge Telco in North America.

2007-02-12

PAST TOP PICK

38.520

(A Top Pick Jan 25/06. Up 27.4%.) Spun out their directory business, which would be another $2 of valuation. 4.2% yield. Getting closer to a fuller valuation but he is still buying.

2007-01-31

BUY

36.810

Really likes some of the US telephone service providers. There is a rebuilding going on at the network level that will allow the telecom service providers to charge more for the services and sell different types of services. There is also new content being pushed through the pipes.

2007-01-08

PAST TOP PICK

37.240

Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI

(A Top Pick Nov 2/06. Up 4.5%.) He would have exited at $34 for a loss if he had owned. Still likes the sector and might consider getting into it.

2007-01-02

DON'T BUY

36.680

The model price is $30.51, giving a negative 16% differential.

2006-12-21

PAST TOP PICK

36.450

(A Top Pick Jan 25/06. Up 20.6%.) Actually up more than that as they spun out their directory division which would have added another $0.50/$0.75 to the stock. Good dividend yield. Likes US telephone prospects better than Canadian.

2006-12-20

DON'T BUY

34.750

Alex Ruus

Would not own any of the handset providers. Prefers the service providers.

2006-11-22

TOP PICK

36.990

Jeff Parent B. Eng. FCSI

Designed for a very short-term trade. Looking for $3 and the downside might be $.50. Has been on a fairly good upward trend. Had a drop in the last few days.

2006-11-02

PAST TOP PICK

37.000

(A Top Pick July 11/06. Up 11.7%.) Good dividend. Earnings were a little disappointing so stock dropped which gives a great opportunity to buy more. Good for long-term investors. The most profitable and best run wireless.

2006-10-31

PAST TOP PICK

36.780

It has increased 15-16%. It has the highest yield in the group. It has growth prospects that other companies don't have. They are putting fiber-optics in the homes.

2006-09-27

HOLD

35.180

Peter Hofstra

The risk is that they will have to spend a lot upgrading because of competition. This will hurt short-term profitability. They are doing a decent job and buying the right assets to make sure they’ve got a strong business. Probably some upside still.

2006-08-29

BUY

34.700

John O'Connell, CFA

Has been a difficult stock to own. Down significantly from $60. You're getting paid to own it with a 4.6% yield. Have done a good job of paying down their debt. A huge company, so difficult for them to grow their business. Good long-term prospects.

2006-08-25

DON'T BUY

34.390

Paul Harris, CFA

Not enamoured by telecom stocks. A very good company. Most of these companies have huge yields, around 5%. They will be involved with more and more capital expenditure and a lot of competition.

2006-08-15

BUY

32.300

The wire line phone companies in general have not performed very well over the last 2/3 years, but they are not terribly economically sensitive, they’re cash flow generating machines and the environment is starting to improve for them. They are also getting price increases on their wholesale business. This is the best performing stock in the group.

2006-07-12

TOP PICK

32.690

Dividend is almost 5%. High-quality and forward looking management. Investing huge amounts of money in fibre to the home to create large pipe as a conduit to supply lots of product that needs lot bandwidth. Have the best wireless company in the US.

2006-07-11

DON'T BUY

32.340

Model price is $31.50 and was a decrease over the last several months, indicating fundamentals are not going up, but are actually going down. A negative 4% differential.

2006-05-10

BUY

32.850

Good long-term hold. The second largest phone company in the US. 5% dividend. Undervalued.

2006-05-09

PAST TOP PICK

33.320

(A Top Pick Feb 13/06. No change.) 5% yield. Have been spending a lot of money in fibre to the home. In the long-term, that will provide them the ability to sell to the consumer all kinds of product over that line. Still likes it.

2006-04-27

BUY

33.520

Bill Carrigan

Recommends this stock. Best to buy earlier in the cycle.

2006-02-14

TOP PICK

32.940

Largest US telephone company. Investors have been wary because of the billions they are spending on a wide pipe to go into individual homes, but this will be great because of growth opportunities. Also, investors didn't like that they were buying MCI out of bankruptcy but they are getting great cost savings out of this. 5% yield.

2006-02-13

HOLD

33.180

Gavin Graham

This is one of those companies that has been a victim of cable. You get a 4.5% yield. They have lots of cash.

2006-02-10

TOP PICK

31.380

Pays about 5%. Recently bought MCI which he likes. Divesting a number of their assets which should give them a good price. They have the best wireless operation in the US.

2006-01-25

WEAK BUY

31.710

Trading down like the rest of the Telcos in the US and Canada. Yield of 5% and trades at 11 X earnings. Ok for bottom fishers but would prefer to wait until it stops dropping. Doesn't see it dropping much further.

2005-12-05

HOLD

35.970

David Baskin

Volatility in telecomm sector. VOIP technology threatens if it is made a reality. Also increased competition causing greater risks. Overall a quality company, and will probally be ok.

2005-02-28

DON'T BUY

41.600

Selling a 20% stake in Telus for $2 billion. Has a model price of around $32, so not a fan..

2004-11-30

DON'T BUY

41.170

Brad Willock

If you've made some money, take some off the table.

2004-11-10

BUY

39.250

It has the perfect meld of both wireline and they have the best cell phone network in the US. Yield is just under 4%.

2004-10-27

HOLD

40.550

John Sinkins, CFA

Wireless has been the one bright spot in technology over the last 2 years. Pretty stable.

2004-09-13

TOP PICK

40.340

Liz Ann Sonders

The drought in telecom spending is coming to an end. Great earnings track record.

2004-09-10

BUY

38.540

Ralph Ades

Likes the stock in the tech sector. A very large company. They have the wireless business. Growth is great and they have been underestimated for many years. Good long-term potential.

2004-07-30

BUY

36.560

David Baskin

3 good reasons to buy are strong dividends, coming off the bottom, and US currency devaluation. Had been oversold. Very steady revenues. Limited growth.

2004-01-07

DON'T BUY

34.150

Ross Healy

Not particularly cheap/attractive.

2003-12-19

DON'T BUY

34.200

Yield is close to 5%. At a 52-week low. Their model price is $28.80 so the stock is overvalued. Earnings have been steadily falling.

2003-12-17

DON'T BUY

32.160