USM

AT&T Tries Again…This Time: Leap Wireless

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Through the course of the past two years, we’ve seen a trend toward consolidation in the US wireless industry. AT&T (click ticker for report: ) failed to purchase T-Mobile (TMUS) in late 2011, but the firm has taken another stab at gobbling up spectrum and customers, announcing its intention to acquire Leap Wireless (LEAP) Friday for $1.2 billion plus the assumption of Leap’s net debt of approximately $2.8 billion. The deal works out to $15 per share, but AT&T will sell Leap’s Chicago spectrum with the proceeds going to Leap shareholders, which investors are pegging at $2+ per share of additional value. After regulators squashed AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile, T-Mobile USA merged with MetroPCS. Not long after, Sprint (click ticker … Read more

Dish Won’t Go to War Over Clearwire; What’s Next?

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Late on Wednesday afternoon, news hit the tape that Dish Network (click ticker for report: ) would end its pursuit for Clearwire (CLWR), paving the way for Sprint (click ticker for report: ) to assume full control of the company for $5 per share (in line with our fair value estimate). Although we thought as well as the market thought (since shares of Clearwire were trading above the Sprint buyout price prior to the withdrawal) that Dish Chairman and founder Charlie Ergen would make a higher offer for Clearwire, Ergen may have known a bit more than he led onto during the bidding process, given that the FCC just approved draft rules for the auction of additional spectrum one day … Read more

Wireless Industry Consolidation Continues

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According to The Wall Street Journal, Sprint (click ticker for report: ) will acquire spectrum and wireless operations from Midwest-provider US Cellular (USM) for approximately $480 million. Sprint will acquire key markets, including Chicago and St. Louis, and the deal includes approximately 585,000 customers. We don’t see any material impact on our fair value estimate for Sprint. The deal isn’t incredibly material for Sprint, but we think it certainly acquired these assets on the cheap. US Cellular has struggled to maintain market share in large markets due to the competition from larger providers with stronger smartphone offerings. We believe giving existing US Cellular customers the option of the iPhone, as well as other high-end Android phones, will help reduce churn. … Read more

Stock Market Outlook for 2021

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By Valuentum Analysts February 8, 2021 2020 was one for the history books. We covered our thoughts and reflections on the past year in our “2020 Won’t Soon Be Forgotten” article (link here), and now we are looking towards the future. Global health authorities should be able to bring an end to the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic sooner than many had expected as several vaccines have already been improved for emergency use and several others appear increasingly likely to get approved. Global vaccine distribution activities are currently underway, and this should allow the world to slowly return to pre-pandemic activities. Before then, immense stimulus measures launched primarily in developed nations should support global economic activities until the public health crisis … Read more

High-Yielding Crown Castle Is One of Our Favorite REITs

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Image Shown: We include Crown Castle International Corp as an idea in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio. Image Source: Crown Castle International Corp – October 2021 IR Presentation By Callum Turcan Crown Castle International Corp (CCI) is a real estate investment trust (‘REIT’) that owns and operates cell towers, fiber networks, and small cell nodes in the US. These assets form the backbone of wireless infrastructure and are key to enabling the domestic rollout of 5G networks and supporting existing 4G networks. We include shares of CCI in our High Yield Dividend Newsletter portfolio as we are big fans of its strong dividend coverage (when taking its ability to tap capital markets into account), impressive growth outlook, and high-quality … Read more

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week of August 8

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending August 8. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week                          Alphamin Resources Corp. (AFM:CA): now CAD 0.07 per share semi-annual dividend, was CAD 0.06. Ambev (ABEV): now $0.0230 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.0219. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. PFD SER G (NLY.PR.G): now $0.5577 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.5518. Annaly Capital Management, Inc. PFD STK I 6.75% (NLY.PR.I): now $0.6098 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.6034. Aura Minerals (AUGO): now $0.33 per share … Read more