AT&T: Negative Takeaways From Management Comments At Citi Conference
(Preview) Company Update (T US) (Neutral)
Summary
AT&T stock finished the week up 6.9% after executives from the three largest U.S. wireless carriers all spoke at the same conference.
However, we believe their comments were bad news for AT&T, indicating that competition is intensifying and that AT&T may be losing ground.
In Mobility, AT&T postpaid phone net adds were down sequentially when T-Mobile's were up; AT&T's 5G coverage will remain behind peers'
AT&T's Consumer Wireline business, still 60% non-fiber, is at risk from T-Mobile's fixed wireless, whose net adds rose to 224k in Q4.
At $26.29, AT&T stock has a 10%+ Free Cash Flow Yield and a 4%+ post-spin Dividend Yield, but not cheap enough to offset structural risks.
Introduction
We review our Neutral rating on AT&T after senior executives from the three largest U.S. wireless carriers all spoke at the Citigroup's AppsEconomy conference last week.
AT&T shares finished the week up 6.9%, while Verizon shares rose 4.4% but T-Mobile shares fell 5.4%. (Charter shares also fell 3.4% on …