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The Razor’s Edge

2-Year Price History

Recent Price
(5/4 6:40PM) +2.6%
$26.69
52-Week Price
$20.90 – $39.91
Market Capitalization
$153.3 Billion
Dividend Yield
6.30%
Most Recent Dividend
$1.60
All Financial News about T is here.

About AT&T, Inc.

AT&T, Incorporated is considered to operate in the Technology sector. They specifically operate in the Telecom Services/Domestic business segment contained within the Telecommunications industry.

A holding company whose subsidiaries and affiliates provides wireless and wireline telecommunications services and equipment as well as directory advertising and publishing services in the United States and internationally.

Ockham’s Rating

As frequent users of Ockham Research are aware, we strive to adhere to the principal of Ockham’s Razor. This company ideal drives us to keep our stock analysis as simple as possible, but of course, no simpler than is necessary. It is in that vein that we focus much of our analysis on fundamental factors, peer analysis, and valuations versus historically normal ranges. However, we also apply standard deviation and volatility studies for each index and sector in order to understand more completely the risks associated with each market environment.

In general, when sectors, in this case the Telecom sector, have outperformed the market we tend to be a bit more hesitant to recommend stocks in that sector. However, even though the stocks in Telecom have appreciated 9.1% in the last six months, we believe that T is not quite due for an upgrade. Please see the full report of underlying research for more of our rationale of keeping a rating of Undervalued for at least another week.

As far as price is concerned, an increase has occurred in T’s price from $25.16 as of 04/25/2009 to a price of $26.01 as of 05/02/2009. This increase of 3.38%, while not significant enough to cause a ratings downgrade at this time, does cause the attractiveness of T to decline slightly.

Second, since our last report, there have been no significant adjustments in earnings expectations or guidance.

T Stock Evaluation

As noted in the Recommendation Summary, we are content with maintaining our Undervalued rating on T. Although there has been no additional earnings guidance offered by T’s management in the last week, the stock price has increased by 3.38%, which is a negative from a value perspective. However, while the price increase does make the stock less attractive, it is only marginally less attractive and not enough to warrant a downgrade. Find more on this and other fundamental factors in our analysis in the paragraphs that follow.

T Revenue

For a long time, value investors have used the current share price relative to sales per share levels as an important valuation tool. We utilize a historical weighted average methodology that treats recent years more importantly in the calculation. When looking at T through this framework, we can see that our weighted average historical high and low Price to Sales per share ratios over the last 10 years are 2.88x and 1.92x respectively.

Utilizing this range we can see that T’s current Price to Sales per share ratio of 1.20x is significantly below its average levels historically. In fact, with a current price of $26.01, T is a full 50% below its average Price to Sales ratio at comparable sales levels. This is a rare occurrence and, when taken in context of the other areas of our analysis, can be a strong positive for our outlook for T.

T Cash Earnings

Looking at T specifically in their Cash Earnings capabilities, Ockham views T as significantly below their historical average multiples of Cash Earnings, as calculated by our proprietary analysis. It is incredibly important to understand that for T, the current level of Cash Earnings compared to its historical levels helps identify where T is in relation to what the investing community was willing to pay for this level of Cash Earnings in the past. With a historical high Cash Earnings per share ratio of 9.79 and a historical low Cash Earnings per share ratio of 6.53, an investor can relate where value becomes optimal.

So what does "significantly below" mean when we talk about Price to Cash Earnings numbers for T? From the Ockham perspective, we are looking specifically at T to see if the market is recognizing the huge disparity between T’s past stock price to Cash Earnings ratio to today’s levels. At a difference of 43% below the average historical Price to Cash Earnings ratio, our view would be quite positive at this point. However, as with all metrics, we need to also take other factors into account when looking at T. While we view better Cash Earnings metrics as very important, if the market is slow to identify this value, or if Cash Earnings were to fall from these levels, we would become more neutral in our stance.

T Dividends

A positive Ockham rating does not require a company to pay out an inviting dividend or a dividend at all. However, we believe dividends provide a useful measure of a company’s inherent expectations.

Comparable to our analysis of Sales and Cash Earnings per share, we examine dividend yields from T against the historic high and low levels over an available data range. Because T has an established history of paying a dividend to shareholders, there is value in comparing recent dividends to historical dividends. In T’s case, the estimated annual dividend is $1.64 producing a current dividend yield of 6.31%. The highest dividend yield from T in recent history was 7.85% while the lowest dividend yield was 1.71%. If you are looking for some “bang for your buck” then a dividend yield of 32.01% above the historical median should be enticing. T receives a positive boost in our view because as you know, equity at its core is simply a claim on future dividends.

Peer Comparison

:

AT&T, Inc. Industry Grouping

(5/1/2009)
Company Ticker Market Cap (Ml) Latest
Price
Price/Cash Earnings Price/Sales 5-Yr. Rev.
Growth Rate
5-Yr.
Avg. ROE.
Current 10-Yr. Range* Current 10-Yr. Range*
Peer Company Averages (not incuding T) 8.71 4.79 » 77.16 2.39 1.50 » 18.01 17.20% 17.07%
*10 year range does not include current year values
China Mobile Limited CHL $175.7 Billion $43.82 8.28 3.82 » 57.51 2.79 1.78 » 24.53 25.76% 19.90%
AT&T, Inc. T $153.3 Billion $26.01 4.68 3.65 » 13.15 1.20 1.00 » 3.88 24.88% 10.70%
Vodafone Group PLC ADR VOD $99.9 Billion $18.85 4.01 3.26 » 119.35 1.34 1.16 » 11.32 7.95% 1.60%
Verizon Communications, Inc. VZ $90.7 Billion $30.55 4.32 3.12 » 10.80 0.85 0.67 » 2.76 7.52% 15.78%
Telefonica S.A. TEF $88.5 Billion $56.91 5.17 4.24 » 34.17 0.96 0.80 » 4.72 21.87% 29.28%
Qualcomm, Inc. QCOM $70.4 Billion $42.66 21.77 9.50 » 163.96 6.02 3.08 » 46.74 22.92% 18.80%
Current
Rating on:
T
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The latest TV Media Discussion

6:16:36 PM T $26.66 AT&T;, Inc.
Mad Money
9 hours ago (05/04)
“…At 155 miles per hour, andy roddickhas the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. So i’ve come to this court …On the internet. AT&T laptopconnect card. He won’t plans faster, check my account all on the go. Faster than andy roddick. …” …more details…
1:00:19 PM T $26.55 AT&T;, Inc.
15 hours ago (05/04)
“…Whether chrysler can start that allows those with objections more time to review. Shares are up 3.5% as AT&T announces r.I.M.’s latest available in early summer. And fems fargo has been told to …” …more details…
10:52:40 AM T $26.61 AT&T;, Inc.
17 hours ago (05/04)
“…>> whereas now with the simplification of the structure, at least the possibility of that becomes more reasonable. >> I think a lot of strategic possibilities become more real or potentially more real with this structure. >> the AT&T direct deal has been a good one for both companies, >> I think it’s a very positive partnership. >> as for liberty itself, you are going to create yet another tracker. …” …more details…
10:52:07 AM T $26.61 AT&T;, Inc.
17 hours ago (05/04)
“…Transaction is completed and, as you say, there is a clarification of directv’s capital structure and its shareholders, that it will sell itself to AT&T. Is that something that is a possibility in your opinion? Is that a deal that has been considered in the past given you’ve controlled directv? >> I think that the partnerships that we have with verizon and AT&T and qwest are very helpful to both parties, and whether those partnerships expand in some way into an ownership structure, I can’t speculate. But what I can tell you is no …” …more details…
10:26:59 AM T $26.46 AT&T;, Inc.
17 hours ago (05/04)
“…>> trade in having owned liberty, mdia, in the last few >> bother because you’ve already >> however, directv now immediately speculation is going to start that AT&T is going to buy directv. >> financials really strong. Goldman back to almost 130. That 122 secondary, that didn’t hurt anyone that stepped up to the plate. For a while it looked like it …” …more details…
9:18:08 AM T $26.19 AT&T;, Inc.
18 hours ago (05/04)
“…It enables dtv to buy control of the company back from malone by paying a premium of 5%. Here’s the big one. Does this now mean a deal to be acquired by AT&T or perhaps verizon is next up? That is the broad speculation in we’ll be watching that closely. That’s a deal I hope to get before it ends up in a press release. …” …more details…
8:50:05 AM T $25.52 AT&T;, Inc.
19 hours ago (05/04)
“…Investors have to put pencil to paper and figure out where the risk reward is. It’s also a relative thing am I happy owning sprint with all the risk it has or do I want to move my money into another telecom stock maybe? Connell: like an AT&T or verizon you are right, there has been a big run in this market, no doubt, 30% here over the last few weeks or couple of months. Connell: now fedex is the second one in the fox 50 that we wanted to talk about today. …” …more details…
6:42:43 AM T $25.52 AT&T;, Inc.
Squawk Box
3 days ago (05/01)
“…>> you know, the financials are the other ones, I think when you get down and they get swept up — I mean, larry, ibm will be around most likely. AT&T will be around. Some of the dow 30 that aren’t quite as financially exposed, they got thrown out with the no? >> well, joe, you’re absolutely we have been fortunate to find …” …more details…
6:56:13 PM T $25.52 AT&T;, Inc.
Mad Money
4 days ago (04/30)
“…It would be impossible for me to do this without a network that works around the world. More bars in more places. AT&T. The best coverage worldwide. …” …more details…
4:52:01 PM T $25.56 AT&T;, Inc.
4 days ago (04/30)
“…Keep their unused minutes. And these days we can’t afford to be wasteful. Saving minutes….. …..Saves money. Yeah. Only AT&T’s familytalk with rollover saves your family’s unused minutes. And saving minutessaves this mother’s after mail-in-rebate mail-in-rebate. …” …more details…
2:16:30 PM T $25.69 AT&T;, Inc.
4 days ago (04/30)
“…@@ any way you want it, that’s the way you need it any way you want it… ( rock music playing ) only AT&T brings you a samsung messaging phonelike the samsung propel …” …more details…
11:38:56 AM T $25.94 AT&T;, Inc.
5 days ago (04/29)
“…Lots of support for the 40-year bank of america veteran. We will have that story coming up after the break. Boxing has ever seen. So i’ve come to this ring on the internet. I’ll be using the 3g AT&T laptopconnect card. He won’t. So I can browse the web faster, email business all on the go. Faster than floyd mayweather. …” …more details…
3:07:06 PM T $25.87 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…On this for some timeme. Key for verizon. The churn rate we talk about the rate for how many customers they’re losing. In verizon, the latest quarter they reported and AT&T was very low. Not only were they selling more iphones activating 1.2 million new ones but they had 400,000 existing customers sign on. When you do that, that is two more years you’re looked into with AT&T. The iphone is game changer. Verizon, you wonder they can’t cut a deal with both. You can get a blackberry through different companies. >> liz: I know, I have mine. …” …more details…
3:06:21 PM T $25.85 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…Potentially involve like an iphone light and somom of the other models that people might be looking for out there that don’t exist already. However, if you look back at the AT&T deal and the iphone, this lured millions of fresh customers to AT&T and boosted the company’s revenue in a recession. That one is hard to think that that is not the best way to go for the company and not see the technological hurdles they might face if they try to go out and do something new. …” …more details…
3:04:41 PM T $25.88 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…Microsoft could be talking with verizon of a competitor to apple’s iphone and apple could be talking with verizon of service and it has that exclusive deal with AT&T until next year. You look at the intraday chart. Not a lot of movement here on microsoft shares. When that new first coming out earlier this afternoon, the shares barely budged. Look at the other smart phone …” …more details…
2:01:58 PM T $25.74 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…Others say they have plenty of lead time. Microsoft is elower. Verizon higher. Apple is down fractionally. Then you have the deal with apple and the exclusive deal with AT&T and they were going to try to work with verizon. It’s all over the place. Verizon and AT&T are the winners. Don’t forget, we can’t leave out google and the an droid and the g-1. They have a couple of things themselves. …” …more details…
1:54:33 PM T $25.73 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…Scenarios, but I think the one that makes most sense is this idea that apple is out there trying to negotiate at least as good a terms if not better terms than what it already enjoys with AT&T. Let’s not forget that apple was able to write its own ticket because AT&T wanted iphone so I think there’s something more to it than that. I would really surprised if apple got any kind of partnership with verizon. The zoom phone from microsoft, …” …more details…
1:52:55 PM T $25.72 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…New kind of tablet computer all this is significant news to AT&T prior to iphone’s original launch, an agreement that starts with next year. The company is taking the unusual step of reminding investors and those of us in the media how happy it is with AT&T as a service provider and why technologically it has no interest in partnering with verizon. AT&T is a very good partner and we believe they’re the best wireless provider in the u.S. On that latter point, verizon is on cdma and we chose from the beginning of the iphone to go …” …more details…
1:48:33 PM T $25.76 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…Is reported to be in talks with apple to distribute two hand held devices that are kind of like iphones but not exactly. What does it all mean for the other smart phone makers? And especially for AT&T? >> and we’re keeping our eye on the markets. Dow is up 25 points, 8,050. Today feels like a rally. Welcome to the now network. …” …more details…
12:53:51 PM T $25.66 AT&T;, Inc.
6 days ago (04/28)
“…Is jon najarian seeing buying in his markets? >> that could be phenomenal for even though they have the exclusivivety now with AT&T, I think they get a lot more subscribers very quickly if they the question is how much do they give up in terms of those dollars from AT&T to make that happen for them to lose the >> thanks, john, thanks, me thanks everybody. Here’s what’s coming up on "fast money" at 5:00 eastern time. …” …more details…
3:39:54 PM T $25.24 AT&T;, Inc.
7 days ago (04/27)
“…Recovery or are there too many risks involved in commercial ng has ever seen. So i’ve come to this ring on the internet. I’ll be using the 3g AT&T laptopconnect card. He won’t. So I can browse the web faster, email business all on the go. Faster than floyd mayweather. …” …more details…
5:45:58 PM T $25.22 AT&T;, Inc.
Fast Money
10 days ago (04/24)
“…Shifting subsidies away from motorola and more toward rim. And we like this story. Even in this economy. >> how does it compete against the iphone? >> to be honest, iphone is locked in with AT&T. So if you want to go with the best thing out there is the blackberries. Blackberry’s great for iphone’s great for consumer. I use both of them personally. …” …more details…
5:43:06 PM T $25.22 AT&T;, Inc.
Fast Money
10 days ago (04/24)
“…Profit of 59 cents is expected. >> couldn’t possibly care less it dubts matter. So many other things are working right now. Verizon is frankly not and i’m just not that interested. AT&T, they were pretty solid, but it’s all about price war, it’s all about expense for these guys and they don’t have control >> pfizer’s out with its earnings next tuesday. Profit of 49 cents is expected. >> they’re going to be losing patents. We all know about that. …” …more details…
3:12:41 PM T $25.32 AT&T;, Inc.
10 days ago (04/24)
“…I would be looking to pair back on the defensive areas. >> verizon, I think, among the companies — >> verizon, century, american tower likely — guidance similar to what they saw from AT&T this week. >> what about the economic data? The gdp, the first report on the gdp next week. What are you expecting and what are you looking for in terms of …” …more details…
12:42:54 PM T $25.55 AT&T;, Inc.
10 days ago (04/24)
“…At 155 miles per hour, andy roddickhas the fastest serve in the history of professional tennis. So i’ve come to this court …On the internet. AT&T laptopconnect card. He won’t plans faster, check my account all on the go. Faster than andy roddick. …” …more details…
6:39:08 PM T $25.55 AT&T;, Inc.
Mad Money
11 days ago (04/23)
“…Want to buy lows. >> let’s go to jim. >> rick in arkansas, good to have you onned show. >> I know a lot of people have written them off thinking they can’t hang with AT&T and I also know there’s a lot of buzz about the new phone by palm that’s exclusive to sprint and I know you have that pay as you go >> did I give you — i’ll give you a threesome. …” …more details…
7:27:08 AM T $25.87 AT&T;, Inc.
11 days ago (04/23)
“…Speaking in cairo, egypt, ballmer says it would not make he also says the software giant is not interested in yahoo! Either and is instead focused on gaining market share through AT&T wants to double the capacity of its 3 g network before it moves on to 4 g. AT&T will use software upgrades to get one last bandwidth from its current network. That means you will be able to down load things a lot faster. >>> and apple pulls the plug on a new iphone application called …” …more details…
4:37:39 PM T $25.74 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…In virtually every category they they blew the doors off of the iphone. They sold 1.6 million new iphones through AT&T in this again, 1.2 million of all other phones AT&T sold. We’ve got coming up, maria, in the next quarter it’s going to be another home run. A netbook steve jobs is sheparding into the market while …” …more details…
4:35:33 PM T $25.74 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…That looking through the release here, $2 here, 2.22 mac sales on the quaerer. 3.8 million iphones. We knew that was going to be a good number based on the AT&T news earlier in the day. 11 million ipods, again, soundly beating wall street estimates. Gross margin on this company, I mean, talk about a wow factor. …” …more details…
4:00:18 PM T $25.79 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…Thrive in the global economy. Wells fargo talking sustainable we talk about quarterly numbers, AT&T, mcdonalds, boeing. There you go. Action on wall street never hend ends. Still below the 8,000 mark, though. >> there you go. …” …more details…
3:56:23 PM T $25.74 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…Street looking for $1.09. By product segment, apple should announce 2.4 million macs shipped, well over 10 million with today’s earnings’ news earlier from AT&T, the iphone number could be closer to 3.7 million units or over 4 million if you believe cross research. The shares have been on a rocketship ride since the march 9th trough. Pressure is on to meet or beat …” …more details…
12:00:48 PM T $26.13 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…Follow that story out of we have a lot to digest this you have stocks right now after huge loss for the first quarter, but AT&T and mcdonald’s coming that’s helping our markets rights now and of course, brian just talking about the latest details on that shocking story out of virginia. New details on the apparent …” …more details…
11:52:07 AM T $26.06 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…The news out from AT&T today. The first quarter numbers were certainly good for AT&T driven strongly by the iphone subscriber growth. 75% of AT&T subscribers, brian, in the last quarter. Were driven because they bought the iphone. Over 1.6 million iphones were purchased last quarter, through AT&T, certainly bodes well at least a preliminary indication of it bowing well for apple after the close today. I dumped verizon and I wanted an iphone and dumped verizon and got an AT&T. I’m one of those 1.6 million people. >> already exclusivity works. >> brian: no knock on verizon, I just wanted the iphone. …” …more details…
10:50:08 AM T $26.15 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…Saw, this is optimism surrounding the shares. We should see a strong mac number and ipod number and healthy I phone numbers. We god an indication of that from AT&T when they that company reported earnings earlier today. Looks like the company continues to fire on all cylinders. The question is going to come down to gooid dance. Apple is historically very conservative. It shouldn’t be much of a …” …more details…
10:08:01 AM T $25.99 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…An up arrow, with these d with the up arrows, that could move us even higher. Right now, really unchanged and that’s the quarterly reports continue to pour in. Tomorrow, we have a lot of big names as well, but AT&T, mcdonald’s, boeing, yahoo! Just some of the names that have come in with their quarterly reports here, but the trade herbsrstraders, the concensus on wall street after …” …more details…
9:53:34 AM T $25.99 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…Seeing the comparables, the same-store sales up at least equal to or better than what they did not first quarter in every region of the world. Also in the dow, check out AT&T. Thank you iphone. 1.6 million of you signed up for a new iphone in the quarter. That’s push that stock higher. Better than expected, bottom line, the top line, a little bit soft with the revenues down .6 …” …more details…
9:32:21 AM T $25.94 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…Thinking it was coming back take a look at the next chart, the movers coming out with quarterly and up 2%, boeing as well and AT&T on the upside and then you can take a look at some of the other movers, altria, by the way, down 77% oon some prior year international profits, there were a lot of the folks also saying that they’re …” …more details…
8:45:39 AM T $25.40 AT&T;, Inc.
12 days ago (04/22)
“…>> thanks, jenna, good morning, good morning everybody, I can tell you u.S. Stocks index futures are pointing to a lower open this morning. Obviously, we got in morgan stanleley, we’re looking at mcdonald’s, boeing, AT&T, some of the big names to watch here on wall street, also, wells fargo, a name to watch as well. I think it was upgraded over at wachovia so certainly that’s one morgan stanley a disappointment, …” …more details…
View All AT&T;, Inc. News

Key Fundamentals

T – AT&T, Incorporated Fundamentals
Price (5/4 6:40PM) $26.69
Volume (5/4 6:40PM) 27.3 Million
Last Close Price $26.01
10 Day Average Volume 30.1 Million
13 Week Price Range $21.44 – $27.09
52 Week Price Range $20.90 – $39.91
LTM Revenue $124.0 Billion
 
Shares Outstanding (12/2008) 5.9 Billion
Market Capitalization $153.3 Billion
Shares Held By Institutions 3.5 Billion
Institutional Holders 1,836
% Shares Held By Institutions 59.30%
Earnings Per Share (EPS) $2.16
P/E Ratio 12.00
Book Value Per Share $16.35
 
Gross Margin 59.80%
Annual Dividend 1.64
Dividend Yield 6.30%
Beta 0.70
Fiscal Year Ends December
NASDAQ 1763.56

44.36  2.58%
S&P; 500 907.24

0  0.00%
^DIA 84.2406

2.08  2.53%