Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shares are trading marginally higher at $42.17 during Monday’s session, recovering after Friday’s drop.
The stock dropped last week in reaction to rival T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS), which fell 11% despite reporting record-breaking first-quarter results.
What To Know: T-Mobile's surge in postpaid phone additions and a 29% jump in diluted earnings per share intensified investor concerns about competitive dynamics in the wireless industry.
For Verizon, the nation's largest wireless carrier by revenue, the market's response signals growing anxiety over subscriber retention and service revenue stability.
Although Verizon has steadily focused on expanding its premium 5G network, investing heavily in C-band spectrum deployment and premium service offerings like its myPlan customizable wireless plans, T-Mobile's momentum raises fears that Verizon's pricing power could erode.
T-Mobile's aggressive subscriber gains, especially in lucrative urban and suburban markets, put pressure on Verizon's high-margin wireless and broadband segments -- key drivers of its earnings.
Investors could be worried that Verizon, traditionally viewed as the “network quality” leader, may need to offer steeper promotions or risk further churn, challenging its strategy of protecting margins over chasing volume.
Read Also: Comcast Hit Hard By Subscriber Exodus, Nearly 630,000 Customers Gone In Q1
How To Buy VZ Stock
By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Verizon – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.
Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.
In the case of Verizon, which is trading at $42172 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you about 2.37 shares of stock.
If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.
According to data from Benzinga Pro, VZ has a 52-week high of $47.36 and a 52-week low of $37.58.
