Telecommunications

AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 02/01/2024 10.56% Citigroup $19 → $20 Maintains Buy 02/01/2024 16.09% JP Morgan $18 → $21 Upgrades Neutral → Overweight 01/31/2024 60.31% Tigress Financial $28 → $29 Maintains Buy 01/31/2024 10.56% Barclays $17 → $20 Maintains Equal-Weight 01/25/2024 32.67% Deutsche Bank $23 → $24 Maintains Buy 01/19/2024 16.09% Oppenheimer → $21 Upgrades Perform → Outperform 12/13/2023 10.56% Wells Fargo $17 → $20 Maintains Overweight 10/23/2023 -0.5% Citigroup $17 → $18 Maintains Buy 10/23/2023 5.03% Morgan Stanley $20 → $19 Maintains Equal-Weight 10/20/2023 2.27% Scotiabank → $18.5 Upgrades Sector Perform → Sector Outperform 10/12/2023 -6.03% JP Morgan $18 → $17 Maintains Neutral 08/29/2023 -6.03% Citigroup → $17 Upgrades Neutral → Buy 08/10/2023 -22.61% RBC Capital $19 → $14 Maintains Sector Perform 08/03/2023 10.56% Morgan Stanley $20 → $20 Reiterates Equal-Weight → Equal-Weight 07/27/2023 10.56% […]

AT&T Chief Executive John Stankey says in an interview on CNBC that the cable companies and the cell carriers will likely need to consolidate over the next 10 years. AT&T, he says, is focused on growing organically, and he believes it has the fiber assets and the cell towers to stand on its own. Others, though, will need to reorganize their assets to compete in a cable-wireless sector that is increasingly converging. He didn’t name companies, though AT&T’s biggest competitors are Verizon and T-Mobile. The biggest cable competitors are Comcast and Charter.

AT&T (NYSE:T) Stock Analyst Ratings Date Upside/Downside Analyst Firm Price Target Change Rating Change Previous / Current Rating 01/31/2024 12.71% Barclays $17 → $20 Maintains Equal-Weight 01/25/2024 35.25% Deutsche Bank $23 → $24 Maintains Buy 01/19/2024 18.34% Oppenheimer → $21 Upgrades Perform → Outperform 12/13/2023 12.71% Wells Fargo $17 → $20 Maintains Overweight 10/23/2023 1.44% Citigroup $17 → $18 Maintains Buy 10/23/2023 7.07% Morgan Stanley $20 → $19 Maintains Equal-Weight 10/20/2023 4.25% Scotiabank → $18.5 Upgrades Sector Perform → Sector Outperform 10/12/2023 -4.2% JP Morgan $18 → $17 Maintains Neutral 08/29/2023 -4.2% Citigroup → $17 Upgrades Neutral → Buy 08/10/2023 -21.1% RBC Capital $19 → $14 Maintains Sector Perform 08/03/2023 12.71% Morgan Stanley $20 → $20 Reiterates Equal-Weight → Equal-Weight 07/27/2023 12.71% Goldman Sachs $23 → $20 Maintains Buy 07/25/2023 -4.2% Citigroup $16 → $17 Maintains Neutral 07/20/2023 12.71% Wells Fargo $22 → $20 Maintains Overweight 07/17/2023 -9.83% Citigroup $22

While the wireless business is the largest contributor to AT&T’s revenue by far, the fiber internet business is proving to be a potent growth opportunity. Capturing that growth comes at a cost: Building out a fiber network is capital-intensive, requiring vast outlays with no guarantee that consumers and businesses will sign up for service. AT&T operates a vast legacy wireline network that serves consumers and businesses, but that business is in perpetual decline. Even the company’s non-fiber broadband service is slowly eroding as subscribers flee. Wireline service revenue from businesses is dropping particularly quickly, down 11% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2023. AT&T’s fiber internet business is already big enough and growing fast enough to push overall consumer broadband revenue and consumer wireline revenue higher. AT&T expects broadband revenue to rise by at least 7% in 2024, more than twice as fast as wireless service revenue growth.