The Wild Card That Could Drag Down AT&T Stock
Shares of telecom giant AT (NYSE: T) are historically inexpensive. Based on the company's guidance for 2023, the stock trades at a measly 7 times free cash flow. The dividend yield is also on the high side, coming in at around 7.35%.
There are a couple of reasons why investors may be excited about AT stock. First, the company's growth is slowing after a period of rapid subscriber gains during the pandemic. AT expects to gain just 300 thousand net postpaid phone subscribers in the second quarter. That's less than half of what it was typically gaining in 2021.
Second, AT still has a lot of debt left over from its failed foray into the media business. While AT has spun off and otherwise disposed of its acquired media assets, including WarnerMedia, its balance sheet is still riddled with debt. AT the end of the first quarter, AT's total debt stood AT $137 billion. Investors are right to be concerned about this mountain of debt in a rising interest rate environment.
Source Fool.com
