The various market indexes are all positive so far in 2023, but the rebound is not universal and there's no shortage of stocks still trading near their lows. A couple of struggling stocks that investors should consider buying right now include Teladoc Health (TDOC -2.91%) and AT&T (T -1.37%). These businesses face challenges ahead, but in the long run could prove to be great investments, especially at their current prices.
Let's find out a bit more about these two dirt-cheap stocks.
1. Teladoc Health
Teladoc Health is a stock that can't seem to get a rally going. Despite posting some encouraging results in its most recent quarter, including continued revenue growth and an improved bottom line, share prices of Teladoc Health remain flat this year. And since hitting highs in 2021, the telemedicine stock has tumbled 88%.
The company's loss in the first quarter was $69.2 million, and while that's much better than the $6.7 billion loss it incurred in the prior-year period (largely due to impairment charges), it's still far from breakeven. But with telemedicine still in its early growth stages, Teladoc remains in a good position to benefit from long-term growth opportunities within the industry, so eventually posting a profit isn't out of the question.
The chart below, which depicts the stock's price-to-sales (P/S) multiple, helps illustrate just how cheap shares of Teladoc look right now:
TDOC PS Ratio data by YCharts
The business has become much larger over the years, but its P/S multiple is around an all-time low. It may not be a popular time to buy the stock, but for long-term investors, it could be an ideal time to do so, as Teladoc's valuation has taken a beating. And with a market cap of less than $4 billion, Teledoc's low enough that it wouldn't be surprising if another company simply ended up acquiring it -- at this much of a bargain, the stock does provide investors and prospective acquirers with lots of value.
2. AT&T
AT&T is another struggling stock that hasn't been performing as poorly as its stock price would appear to suggest. Over the past 12 months, the stock has declined 20% in value, and it now trades at 7 times its estimated future profits -- that's well below the S&P 500 average of nearly 19.
A big incentive for buying this top-tier telecom stock right now is that its dividend yield is around 6.8%. Although the company adjusted its dividend payments after selling off WarnerMedia last year, a falling share price has sent that yield right back up. And while the company didn't have a great first quarter, with free cash flow of $1 billion being less than what AT&T pays out in dividends (just over $2 billion per quarter), management didn't adjust its guidance -- it believes it's on track for a good year, and that it's still able to hit its free cash flow target of $16 billion or more in 2023. With that still intact, AT&T should be able to continue paying its dividend, and could potentially have free cash available to help reduce its debt, which totals a whopping $137.5 billion.
Meanwhile, AT&T is investing in growing its network, as it hopes to reach over 30 million fiber locations by the end of 2025 -- that's up from around 18.5 million locations last year.
Overall, the company is doing a good job of balancing dividends and growth, while trying to reduce its debt. While it's not a risk-free investment and there's a chance AT&T trims the dividend if its financials worsen, at such a high yield today, investors could still collect a high payout even if that happens. The stock is a bit of a contrarian buy right now, but at such a low earnings multiple, investors look to be more than sufficiently compensated to take on a bit of risk. As a top telecom company in the country, AT&T is still a good business for long-term investors to consider holding in their portfolios.
