Jim:
The one good thing
about the merciless
921-point two-day
decline that we had
to suffer on
Wednesday and
Thursday, is that it
brought many stocks
back to levels where
they were very
attractive, and
there are plenty
still, after today's
248-point
comeback...
One of the best is a
telecommunications
stock,
Verizon
(VZ),
which is tonight's
"Invest In America"
play...
This is a great
company that I think
could stand to
profit through these
tough times. VZ is
at $30. It's got a
scandalously-large
6.1% yield. Look, we
could go into a
severe recession...
you know that... but
this is still one of
the best and
best-run companies
in America...
See all
of
tonight's
stocks
mentioned
on
Yahoo!
Finance,
here...
Friday,
November 7, 2008
(Cont'd from
above)...
Jim (cont'd):
The second-largest
phone company in
America... it owns
50% of Verizon
Wireless, which is
about to become the
leading U.S.
wireless carrier.
Just this Tuesday,
there's news... the
FCC approved VZ's
acquisition with
Alltel, a deal
that's expected to
close at the end of
the year or in early
2009... Alright...
so Verizon has to
divest 105 small
markets where
Verizon and Alltel
overlap, and they
have to refinance
$19-20 billion of
Alltel's debt... But
it adds 11 million
wireless
subscribers. That
will let Verizon
vault over
AT&T (T),
to become America's
#1 wireless player.
The most recent
quarter looked darn
good... some great
numbers. The stock
shot up nicely. This
is one of the few
good quarters we've
seen this whole
reporting season.
Alright, so... let's
give it a negative
here... They lost
1.19 million total
access lines in the
quarter, because of
perhaps a slowdown,
competition from
cable... people
dropping landlines
to rely solely on
their cellular
phones... But
Verizon netted 1.48
million new wireless
subscribers...
233,000 FiOS video
subscribers,
including this guy
(pointing to
himself)... bringing
the total number of
FiOS TV customers to
1.6 million. In the
market where FiOS
video is available,
I think Verizon is
on fire... 20%
penetration where
it's available...
People are switching
from cable to FiOS,
and that's the kind
of trend that an
economic slowdown
can't really stop.
Not to mention the
fact that Verizon
traffic is close to
- and this is, to
me, the most
exciting thing - a
billion text
messages a day...
Most important,
Verizon all did
something that I
wanted to get the
CEO on for, because
it's so bullish...
We've read a lot in
the paper, including
today's, about
companies cutting
dividends. Verizon
raised its dividend
by 7%, to $1.84 a
year. That's the
sign of confidence I
need...
That's why I'm
thrilled to bring on
Ivan Siedenburg,
Verizon
(VZ)'s
chairman and CEO, a
man whom I consider
to be one of the
smartest and best
CEOs in the country,
and the mastermind
of Verizon's success
as a business, even
as, right now, its
stock is down about
30%
year-over-year...
which makes no sense
to me.
Ivan, welcome to the
show...
Jim's comments AFTER
the interview:
Look, this is what
I'm talking about...
I'm talking about a
stock that yields
6%, that is a safe
yield... they just
raised it. Where you
can own it... I will
give you constant
updates... This is
the kind of stock
that will get you
through this kind of
period.
