Dividend dynamo CenturyLink
By the numbers
The nation's third-largest hardwired phone company posted $0.55 of adjusted earnings per share, well short of Wall Street's $0.61 consensus target. Its $4.65 billion in operating revenue was generally in line with analyst estimates.
Share prices rose 1.5% the next day, seemingly a sign of satisfied investors. But zoom out a bit and the happy veneer fades a little: Even including the $0.73 per-share dividend payment in December, CenturyLink has trailed the market by a few percentage points since the third-quarter report.
OK, so what's a couple of percentage points between friends? CenturyLink is hardly the kind of stock that attracts day traders. It's just the perfect shape to fit into a long-term buy-and-hold portfolio with dividends firmly reinvested. Sensible investors here focus more on the long-term prospects of the business and the beefy 7.5% annualized payouts that follow, less on earnings weakness in a single quarter.
Long-term prospects
From that angle, this was not a bad report. CenturyLink is losing traditional phone customers, just like everyone else around the industry. But the line losses slowed down in this quarter and CenturyLink makes up for some of it by adding high-speed Internet accounts and TV service subscribers.
The Prism TV product is particularly promising, growing by 30% this quarter. That's 30% above the third quarter, not a year-over-year comparison. Prism is not a copper-line platform like AT&T
The service is currently available to only 1 million homes in CenturyLink's service areas, though the company expects to double that number in 2012. And only 7% of those potential customers have signed up for Prism service so far. There's plenty of untapped growth here.
Some of that Prism opportunity rests on the recently acquired Qwest business. Qwest was already busy rolling out fiber connections and none of the acquired markets have seen any Prism rollouts so far.
The integrations of Qwest and data center operator SAVVIS continue apace. According to CEO Glen Post, CenturyLink "made solid progress" on both fronts, which is somewhat short of "spectacular" but better than "disappointing."
Who cares? I'm here for the dividends!
Oh, and those terrific dividend payouts are safe. CenturyLink produced $515 million of free cash flow in the fourth quarter, more than enough to cover the $451 million paid out in dividends. Management is committed to paying dividends first and using cash for other things second. In 2012, most of the cash flows not funneled into shareholder pockets will go toward paying off debt.
Telecom stocks are a dividend investor's dream come true. The industry is very mature, leaving companies free to spend money on generous payouts rather than chasing growth. You can even get a combination of growth and income by investing in companies with large wireless interests; my personal portfolio includes France Telecom
If you love CenturyLink for its meaty dividend payouts, you should also have a look at 11 rock-solid dividend stocks that can secure your retirement. This special report is free for a limited time, so get your copy right now.