Pity poor Verizon
While Verizon Communications reported second-quarter earnings this morning that largely showed a continuance of the same trends that have developed for the past few years, Wall Street nonetheless sneered at the 21% drop in profits and focused instead on the announcement that another 8,000 jobs would be shed to cut costs.
Never mind that Verizon added another 1.1 million net new customers to the wireless business that it runs with partner Vodafone
Verizon is moving to shed the growth anchors though -- it recently agreed to a deal with Frontier Communications
And though rumors continue to run rampant that the Apple
Granted, the company is operating in the midst of some turmoil -- with the Alltel integration still underway and plenty of hiring and firing going on across divisions, Verizon is going to show some near-term financial pain. But the company still managed to generate $6 billion in free cash flow so far in 2009, $1.8 billion more than in the first half of 2008. With a strong 5.8% dividend yield on shares and the cash backing it up, this Fool is willing to overlook the near-term hiccups.
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Fool contributor Dave Mock would have voted for Speed Racer if he was on the ballot. He owns no shares of companies mentioned here. Apple is a Stock Advisor recommendation. Nokia is an Inside Value recommendation. The Fool's disclosure policy had its share of parallel parking incidents before finally avoiding tight curbside spaces altogether.