VZ and head to head Competition with AT&T
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), the American wireless network operator, will release its earnings reports for Q1 2022 on Friday, April 22, before the market opens on Wall Street. The report will cover the fiscal Quarter ending Mar 2022. Based on 13 analysts' forecasts, Zacks Investment Research sees the EPS forecast for this Quarter at $1.35(+3.1% Y/Y), a bit higher than $1.31 a year ago. EPS for the entire year 2022 is expected at $5.43. The Consensus Revenue Estimate is $33.61B (+2.2% Y/Y). Over the last eight quarters, VZ has beaten EPS estimates 100%, while 63% of the time also could beat the revenue estimates. With its latest improvements in services and projects, this statistic should not disappoint its investors.
We have to watch the detail of reports for its commercial 5G partnerships with higher wireless subscriber additions in this earnings. Earlier in March, they had a deal with SES (SES) to expand access to a portion of the C-band in the most critical regions across the US. Also, they announced that a "Plus Play" platform could be a gateway for subscribers to manage a growing number of streaming services.
On Wednesday, its peer AT&T had a favorable report with nearly 700,000 new postpaid mobile phones, growing its 5G and fiber Internet customer base. And while AT&T (T) agreed with the Federal Aviation Administration that it would turn on more 5G towers, Verizon has started to deploy 5G Ultra-Wideband networks to more than 100 million users in 1,700 cities in the United States, as their double investment in C-Band spectrum in 2021 comparing with AT&T.
VZ shares closed with a 1.10% gain on Wednesday at $55.10, and it is just $4.84 lower than its 52-week high of $59.85 seen last May 10. $53.40, which sits at its 20 DMA, seems solid support. With a positive expected report, any price above this will put the all-time high in the spotlight. Since the overall market sentiment is not so good, with adverse reports and breaching the $53.40, the following targets will be $51.30 and $49.65, respectively.
