How Verizon became the Dow’s worst stock
Overall, the Dow is up about 16% in 2021, making Verizon’s underperformance really stand out. (Biotech Amgen (AMGN), another Dow component, is also down nearly 10% this year.)
Even though profits were better than expected and shares rose about 2% Wednesday, Verizon may still find it difficult to excite Wall Street much longer. Sales growth remains sluggish and the company’s revenues grew just 4% from a year ago, missing estimates.
Verizon (VZ) is stuck in a highly competitive wireless business where companies have to fight for subscribers and often have to resort to low prices to attract users. It doesn’t help that many consumers are increasingly content to hold on to older phones for longer periods of time before upgrading — even as Apple (AAPL), Samsung (SSNLF) and others keep churning out new models.As such, Verizon isn’t the only telecom that’s struggling. Rivals AT&T (T) (which owns CNN’s parent company, WarnerMedia) and…
