Investing Topics: Telecom Stocks

Investors shouldn’t automatically assume that dividend-paying equities are inherently safer than tech stocks or other cyclical fare. When an income-oriented stock cuts or eliminates its dividend, investors not only suffer a diminution of income but also a significant loss of principal during the subsequent selloff. Understanding a company’s underlying business and its growth prospects are essential to separating the winners from the losers.

It’s been mere days since Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) announced it will buy Vodafone PLC’s (London: VOD, NYSE: VOD) 45 percent stake in Verizon Wireless. And scores of articles and opinions have already been posted.

That’s understandable. At roughly $130 billion, only Vodafone’s takeover of Mannesmann and AOL’s (NYSE: AOL) purchase of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) rank larger in dollars. And both of those deals went off at the inflated valuations of the 1999-2000 generational top for technology and telecom.

Big picture themes always grab investing headlines. Success, however, flows from knowing what’s up with individual companies.

Regulated water utilities, for example, are on their face the very simplest and uniform of businesses. Yet so far in 2013, returns from the 10 companies I track in the Utility Report Card have ranged from a 26 percent gain to barely breaking even.

Investors are dumping dividend-paying stocks of strong companies due to misplaced fears about interest rate sensitivity. That’s opening up new opportunities in our favorite stocks, but be patient with prices.

Stocks around the globe are running into trouble in this slowing economic environment, It's been especially tough on companies that rely on emerging markets for their growth.

It’s practically an article of faith among short sellers that betting against wireline phone companies is close to a sure thing.

That’s likely to prove disastrous, however, in the case of Consolidated Communications (NSDQ: CNSL), the only company in the sector not to cut its original dividend.

There weren't any big surprises in our Focus List earnings reports this quarter, which is the way we like it. But there are a lot of bargains in all three portfolios that you can move into now. The story of essential service stocks is just beginning.

Verizon Communications' (NYSE: VZ) second-quarter results demonstrate why its stock trades at a premium, but investors should wait for a pullback before adding to their positions .

Telefonica’s woes can be squarely blamed on aggressive global expansion right up to the great crash of 2008. Revenue growth in Latin America has offset shrinking in Spain and elsewhere in Europe but the Continent’s credit crunch has forced the company to sell assets to reduce its debt load, even as its credit rating has been cut. But things are looking up.

Discipline, consistency and hard work don’t always guarantee success. But they're the necessary foundation of every winning investment strategy.