After attending VZ Analyst Day last Thursday, Wells Fargo’s Senior Analyst Jennifer Fritzsche was reminded of a quote by Mark Twain: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” While acknowledging there are many VZ doubters in the wake of S/TMUS approval, she continues to see them having a tangible and focused strategy.
“The move to the Verizon 2.0 reporting structure is a significant positive change, in our view,” Fritzsche said, “as it has streamlined the conversations VZ has with its multiple customer segments. Recall, driving our top pick call on VZ was that 2020 would be an important year of network milestones for this company – with DSS and fiber foundation we expect these milestones will be achieved.”
While she acknowledges the wireless competitive landscape is changing around it, Fritzsche said history has shown VZ has often been a net winner in taking advantage of the period of disruption going around it. “We believe the concerns around VZ’s cliffing capacity, spectrum position and fiber plan are overdone. In our view in the 5G national coverage world – VZ has the tools in the toolbox to be toe to toe with its competitors,” she said. “Simply put, we believe VZ is being front footed in making the investments today that will translate into revenue growth and opex savings down the road.”
Reader Interactions