Better Buy: CenturyLink, Inc. vs. Frontier Communications

These are challenging times for regional telcos, and Frontier Communications (NASDAQ: FTR) and CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) investors know the pain. CenturyLink has seen its stock slide 19% this year, and that's child's play compared to the 74% plunge at Frontier once we adjust for a brutal 1-for-15 reverse split.

Chunky payouts have been the dinner bell for investors buying into companies losing landline customers while struggling to keep up with larger players vying for slices in the thinning pies of pay TV and to online connectivity. Yields of 20% for Frontier Communications and 11.7% for CenturyLink are tempting, but they're not much of a consolation prize when the stock declines are more than offsetting those quarterly distributions.

Image source: Frontier Communications.

Source: Fool.com