Episode
Verizon Stock: Beat, RAISED Guidance, 6% Yield — Why We Say BUY While Wall Street Waits (VZ)
- Published
- Jul 24, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 866
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/charged-alpha-stock-encyclopedia-7819792/episodes/verizon-stock-beat-raised-guidance-6-yield-why-we-say-buy-while-wall-street-waits-vz/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/charged-alpha-stock-encyclopedia-7819792/verizon-stock-beat-raised-guidance-6-yield-why-we-say-buy-while-wall-street-waits-vz.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
Verizon Communications (VZ) Q2 2026 — Verizon Communications (VZ) reported a strong Q2 2026: adjusted EPS of $1.30 beat the ~$1.27 estimate (+6.6% YoY) and management RAISED full-year guidance for the second straight quarter (adjusted EPS to $4.99-$5.04, free cash flow growth to 9-10%). Total revenue was $34.3B (-0.7% YoY as equipment fell ~20% on lower upgrades), but service revenue grew 3.5%, adjusted EBITDA hit a record $13.7B at a record 40.1% margin, and Verizon added 184,000 postpaid phone customers — its best Consumer Q2 in five years and a swing from a loss a year ago — with churn down to 0.92%. Q2 free cash flow jumped 24% to $6.4B, funding a ~6% dividend (about 19 straight years of raises, covered ~1.9x by FCF). The stock popped ~5% to ~$46, yet still trades at ~9x earnings and an ~11% free-cash-flow yield with $128.7B of net debt (2.5x). Our owner-earnings / DCF pegs fair value near $58 — about 25% above the price. Our call: BUY. Verizon is maybe the most unloved blue chip in America — a ~$192B wireless giant so out of favor it yields almost 6%, trades at ~9x earnings, and gets written off as a slowly melting ice cube. But Q2 2026 was the quarter the bears did not see coming: Verizon added 184,000 postpaid phone customers (its best Consumer Q2 in five years, versus a loss a year ago), churn fell to 0.92%, adjusted EBITDA hit a record $13.7B at a record 40.1% margin, free cash flow jumped 24% to $6.4B, and — for the second straight quarter — management RAISED full-year guidance (adjusted EPS to $4.99-$5.04, FCF growth to 9-10%, about $22B). New CEO Dan Schulman's transformation — simpler plans, a converged Verizon-One bundle, a loyalty program, and the newly closed Frontier fiber acquisition (~30M homes) — is showing up in the numbers. The ~6% dividend (about…