Verizon Communications (VZ)
NYSE:VZ
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Verizon
(NYSE:VZ)
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Rating:72Outperform
Price Target:
$55.00
▲(19.46% Upside)
Action:ReiteratedDate:02/24/26
The score is primarily supported by steady financial performance with strong cash generation and a favorable income/valuation setup (low P/E and high dividend yield), reinforced by upbeat 2026 guidance focused on higher net adds, cost savings, and higher free cash flow. These positives are tempered by balance-sheet leverage and execution risks highlighted by elevated churn, outage impacts, and transitional revenue headwinds; technically, the uptrend appears extended with overbought signals.
Positive Factors
Cash generation
Sustained high operating cash flow and multi‑year free cash flow provide durable funding for network investment, dividends and buybacks without constant equity raises. This cash profile supports strategic flexibility and capital allocation through the 2–6 month horizon and underpins deleveraging plans.
Negative Factors
High leverage
Substantial absolute debt and historically elevated debt/equity constrain financial flexibility, increasing sensitivity to adverse cash flow or higher rates. Deleveraging hinges on sustained FCF and execution of savings, leaving leverage a structural constraint for the next several quarters.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Cash generation
Sustained high operating cash flow and multi‑year free cash flow provide durable funding for network investment, dividends and buybacks without constant equity raises. This cash profile supports strategic flexibility and capital allocation through the 2–6 month horizon and underpins deleveraging plans.
Read all positive factors
Verizon (VZ) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$194.18B
Dividend Yield6.6%
Average Volume (3M)25.87M
Price to Earnings (P/E)10.0
Beta (1Y)0.20
Revenue Growth2.42%
EPS Growth102.17%
CountryUS
Employees99,400
SectorCommunication Services
Sector Strength97
IndustryTelecommunications Services
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)1.09
Shares Outstanding4,217,684,000
10 Day Avg. Volume23,370,650
30 Day Avg. Volume25,874,704
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio-4.62
Price to Book (P/B)1.65
Price to Sales (P/S)1.25
P/FCF Ratio8.55
Enterprise Value/Market Cap1.92
Enterprise Value/Revenue2.70
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit4.85
Enterprise Value/Ebitda7.82
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$50.97Price Target Upside10.71% Upside
Rating ConsensusModerate Buy
Number of Analyst Covering17
EPS Forecast (FY)4.9
Revenue Forecast (FY)$144.37B
Verizon Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Verizon Communications Inc., through its subsidiaries, offers communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. Its Consumer segment provides postpaid an...
How the Company Makes Money
Verizon generates revenue primarily through its Wireless services, which account for the majority of its earnings. This includes monthly subscription fees from customers for mobile plans, data usage, and device sales. The company also earns revenu...
Verizon Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Revenue by Type
Breaks down revenue into categories such as wireless, broadband, and enterprise services, revealing how Verizon's diverse offerings contribute to overall sales.
Breaks down revenue into categories such as wireless, broadband, and enterprise services, revealing how Verizon's diverse offerings contribute to overall sales.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyVerizon Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Jan 30, 2026
(Q4-2025)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Apr 27, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call emphasized strong operational momentum (best quarterly net adds in years), robust free cash flow, improved adjusted EBITDA, a clear cost-transformation plan with $5 billion OpEx savings targeted for 2026, an accelerated fiber strategy bolstered by the Frontier acquisition, and shareholder-friendly actions (dividend raise and $25B buyback authorization). Offsetting risks include a recent customer-impacting network outage, elevated churn from prior pricing actions, transitional revenue headwinds (lapping price increases and promo amortization), and a temporary increase in leverage due to Frontier. Management presented a confident turnaround plan with measurable near-term targets and significant emphasis on improving customer experience and operational efficiency.Positive Updates
Strong Quarterly and Annual Net Adds
Over 1 million mobility and broadband net adds in Q4, the highest reported quarterly net adds since 2019; Q4 postpaid phone net adds of 616,000 (consumer 551,000). 2025 combined FWA, Frontier and fiber net adds ~1.9 million, resulting in >16.3 million broadband connections for the year.
Negative Updates
Customer-Impacting Network Outage
CEO acknowledged a network outage earlier in the month that impacted customers and fell short of Verizon's reliability standards; company apologized and committed to remediation.
Read all updates
Q4-2025 Updates
Positive
Negative
Strong Quarterly and Annual Net Adds
Over 1 million mobility and broadband net adds in Q4, the highest reported quarterly net adds since 2019; Q4 postpaid phone net adds of 616,000 (consumer 551,000). 2025 combined FWA, Frontier and fiber net adds ~1.9 million, resulting in >16.3 million broadband connections for the year.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Verizon's 2026 guidance targets a step-change in performance: consolidated postpaid phone net adds of 750,000–1,000,000 (roughly 2–3x 2025), mobility and broadband service revenue growth of 2%–3% (about $93 billion) with wireless service revenue ~flat, adjusted EPS of $4.90–$4.95 (up ~4%–5% YoY), and adjusted EBITDA expected to grow faster than EPS; capital spending is guided to $16.0–$16.5 billion (vs $17B in 2025, a ~$4B combined improvement), free cash flow of $21.5 billion or more (up ~7% from $20.1B in 2025), and $5 billion of OpEx savings targeted in 2026, with Frontier included from Jan. 20 (Frontier synergies >$1B run-rate by 2028 and Frontier adds to fiber scale as Verizon targets 40–50 million fiber passings medium-term with at least 2 million added in 2026); balance sheet puts net unsecured debt at $110.1 billion and 2.2x net unsecured debt/adjusted EBITDA at year-end 2025 (Frontier expected to add ~0.25x, with a 2.0–2.25x leverage target by 2027), while the Board authorized up to $25 billion of buybacks over three years (≥$3B in 2026) and approved a $0.07 annualized dividend increase (2.5%) payable in May.Verizon Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
72
Positive
Balance Sheet
58
Neutral
Cash Flow
74
Positive
| Breakdown | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | |||||
| Total Revenue | 138.19B | 134.79B | 133.97B | 136.84B | 133.61B |
| Gross Profit | 63.08B | 62.80B | 61.46B | 60.60B | 61.11B |
| EBITDA | 47.72B | 47.52B | 40.14B | 48.95B | 49.12B |
| Net Income | 17.17B | 17.51B | 11.61B | 21.26B | 22.07B |
Balance Sheet | |||||
| Total Assets | 404.26B | 384.71B | 380.25B | 379.68B | 366.60B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 19.05B | 4.19B | 2.06B | 2.60B | 2.92B |
| Total Debt | 200.59B | 168.36B | 174.94B | 176.33B | 177.93B |
| Total Liabilities | 298.52B | 284.14B | 286.46B | 287.22B | 283.40B |
| Stockholders Equity | 104.46B | 99.24B | 92.43B | 91.14B | 81.79B |
Cash Flow | |||||
| Free Cash Flow | 20.13B | 18.92B | 18.71B | 10.40B | 19.25B |
| Operating Cash Flow | 37.14B | 36.91B | 37.48B | 37.14B | 39.54B |
| Investing Cash Flow | -16.66B | -18.67B | -23.43B | -28.66B | -67.15B |
| Financing Cash Flow | -5.61B | -17.10B | -14.66B | -8.53B | 8.28B |
Verizon Technical Analysis
Neutral
46.04
Price Trends
48.30
Negative
43.76
Positive
42.08
Positive
Market Momentum
-0.32
Positive
29.47
Positive
1.87
Positive
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For VZ, the sentiment is Neutral. The current price of 46.04 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 48.99, below the 50-day MA of 48.30, and above the 200-day MA of 42.08, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of -0.32 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 29.47 is Positive, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 1.87 is Positive, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Neutral sentiment for VZ.
Verizon Risk Analysis
Verizon disclosed 18 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Verizon reported the most risks in the "Tech & Innovation" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Verizon Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (60)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
76 Outperform | $100.49B | 5.14 | 20.98% | 4.42% | 0.20% | 61.54% | |
74 Outperform | $215.65B | 20.84 | 18.18% | 1.75% | 7.30% | 17.67% | |
72 Outperform | $194.18B | 10.02 | 16.62% | 6.60% | 2.42% | 102.17% | |
67 Neutral | $184.78B | 8.14 | 20.35% | 4.56% | 1.98% | 150.68% | |
62 Neutral | $82.94B | 14.48 | 17.05% | 2.69% | 1.14% | 83.48% | |
60 Neutral | $48.67B | 4.58 | -11.27% | 4.14% | 2.83% | -41.78% | |
57 Neutral | $30.89B | 5.66 | 31.24% | ― | 0.42% | 13.46% |
* Communication Services Sector Average
VZ
Verizon
46.04
4.54
10.93%
AMX
America Movil
27.19
12.75
88.30%
T
AT&T
26.46
0.40
1.52%
CHTR
Charter Communications
218.82
-121.58
-35.72%
CMCSA
Comcast
27.93
-2.72
-8.87%
TMUS
T Mobile US
195.71
-62.52
-24.21%
Verizon Corporate Events
Private Placements and FinancingRegulatory Filings and Compliance
Verizon Issues Euro and Sterling Junior Subordinated Notes
Positive
Feb 23, 2026
On February 23, 2026, Verizon Communications Inc. completed the sale of €2.25 billion of 4.2462% Fixed-to-Fixed Rate Junior Subordinated Notes due 2056, issued under an effective shelf registration statement and placed with a syndicate of in...
Executive/Board Changes
Verizon Board Member Clarence Otis Plans 2026 Exit
Neutral
Feb 9, 2026
On February 4, 2026, Verizon announced that board member Clarence Otis, Jr., has notified the company he will not stand for re-election when his term ends at Verizon’s 2026 annual meeting of shareholders. His planned departure signals upcomi...
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board Changes
Verizon announces leadership transition in consumer division
Neutral
Feb 5, 2026
On February 4, 2026, Sowmyanarayan Sampath ceased to serve as Executive Vice President and Group CEO of Verizon Consumer at Verizon Communications Inc., marking a leadership change in the company’s consumer division. He will remain with Veri...
Business Operations and StrategyStock BuybackDividendsFinancial Disclosures
Verizon Outlines 2026 Outlook, Launches Major Capital Returns
Positive
Jan 30, 2026
On January 30, 2026, Verizon detailed 2026 earnings and cash flow expectations tied to significant cost-structure and market-strategy changes designed to fund long-term business investment, reduce its net unsecured debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio, a...
Business Operations and StrategyM&A Transactions
Verizon Completes Acquisition of Frontier Communications Parent
Positive
Jan 20, 2026
On January 20, 2026, Verizon Communications Inc. completed its previously announced acquisition of Frontier Communications Parent, Inc., with Frontier merging into a Verizon subsidiary and becoming a wholly owned unit of Verizon. As part of the tr...
Executive/Board Changes
Verizon Updates Executive Performance-Based Equity Award Terms
Neutral
Jan 12, 2026
On January 8, 2026, Verizon’s Human Resources Committee amended its prior letter agreement with executive Daniel H. Schulman to update the terms of a $30 million target value performance stock unit award initially slated for 2026. The award ...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.