Bull and Bear Portfolio Update 5.11.18

Model Guidance: No Changes for the Week

My short-term Bull & Bear Portfolio consists of 10 equally-weighted long positions and 5 equally-weighted short positions. Both the long and short stocks are selected from the Dow Jones Industrial Average. If the Dow advances over the period in which my 15-Dow stock portfolio is open, the model will make money with the stocks that advance and will lose money with the stocks that decline. And the opposite will prevail for the short stocks. Each week, I will review the model portfolio for potential changes. If no changes are required, I’ll simply post no changes for the week. You can read more about my Bull & Bear Portfolio here.

Featured Company: Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ)

Like all telephone companies in America, Verizon’s history starts back in July of 1877 when Alexander Graham Bell formed the Bell Telephone Company. Soon Bell telephone systems were popping up in all the major cities in America, which were linked by Bell’s long distance calling operation. By 1910 the federal government stepped in to regulate what was fast becoming a monopoly on long-distance telephone services.

By 1944 the Bell system of telephone companies, controlled by parent company AT&T, owned all the local phone companies in every major city in America. In 1974, the monopoly’s power would spark a fight between AT&T and the Department of Justice, eventually forcing the parent company to sell the 22 local phone companies in the Bell system. In 1996 the FCC deregulated local markets, allowing competition and setting the stage for what would become Verizon.

Two of the previously regulated Bell system companies, Nynex and Bell Atlantic, merged in 1999, and then joined with Vodafone in 2000 to create a wireless telephone service they named Verizon Wireless. Only months later, Bell Atlantic merged with GTE Corp, expanding its wireless footprint across the country. The merged companies took on the name Verizon, creating the major telecommunications business that survives today.

Since then, Verizon introduced America’s first 3G network in 2002, started building a fiber optic internet system known as FiOS in 2004, deployed America’s first large scale 4G LTE network in 2010, became the first service provider to deploy 100Gbps technology to parts of its network in 2011, and then quickly doubled that in 2013 with the rollout of 200G speeds.

In 2014 Verizon made what may have been its most important acquisition ever by buying Vodafone’s 45% interest in Verizon Wireless. With Vodafone out of the joint venture, Verizon gained full control of America’s largest wireless company.

Today Verizon is continuing to work on its network by rolling out 5G wireless technology. Verizon describes the benefits of the 5G system as “about 50 times the throughput of current 4G LTE, latency in the single milliseconds, and the ability to handle exponentially more Internet-connected devices to accommodate the expected explosion of the Internet of Everything.” The 5G systems will be so fast it won’t just connect smartphones to the Internet, it will even compete with cable-based home broadband systems to connect TVs, desktop computers, streaming devices and all other connected machines. In 2018, Verizon plans on rolling out residential broadband services using 5G in three to five markets in America.

Verizon and its predecessors have paid investors dividends each year since 1984. The company is also a Mergent dividend achiever that has been raising its dividend each year for 12 consecutive years. Verizon shares yield 4.85% today.