It's fascinating to watch a company that once ruled a mountain fight to hold its perch on a rapidly eroding molehill. Last week, USA Mobility
It's easy to see what happened to the paging business. With cheap cellular phones and service from providers like Verizon
The company is also expanding its service offerings, including its reselling agreement with Sprint Nextel
While this transformation happens, the company has busily been returning capital to shareholders in terms of a recently announced quarterly dividend and special $1 per-share distribution. Together, the distributions will take $45.1 million off USA Mobility's balance sheet. At this rate, the company will quickly burn through the $80.3 million in cash it had on hand at the end of the quarter.
It remains to be seen whether the company can successfully shift from a horizontal business to a vertically focused one -- and whether this new vertical focus will produce enough new growth to return the company to its glory days atop the mountain.
Paging further Foolishness:
- Stocks That Pay You to Retire
- 3 Stocks the Market Forgot
- Foolish Forecast: USA Mobility Clings to Cash
Alltel is a Motley Fool Income Investor selection. To see what other dividend paying stocks will put cash in your pocket, take a free 30-day trial.
Fool contributor Dave Mock only goes vertical when forced -- it's much harder to take a nap that way. He owns no shares of companies mentioned here. Dave is the author of The Qualcomm Equation. The Fool has a disclosure policy.