Out Fox The $treet

Vodafone is finally showing signs of life in the long stagnating European wireless services with the shift to 4G. The stock continues to offer strong yields and potential catalyst of the lucking Liberty Global. The network upgrades are only starting to show signs of benefits providing opportunity before the market in general catches on to the growth phase. After taking on a network modernization plan following the sale of Verizon Wireless to  Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ )  a couple of years back,  Vodafone (NASDAQ: VOD )  is finally seeing the fruits of those investments. Project Spring helped improve European networks to 4G coverage and AMAP to 3G+ providing vast improvements to data access in the impacted geographies. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.    Disclosure: Long VOD. Please read the disclaimer page for more details. 

Liberty Global continues pursuing a deal with Vodafone despite regulatory concerns and disagreements on asset values. The stock continues trading toward multi-month lows on market weakness and the lack of merger news. Vodafone remains attractive with solid growth catalysts and a big dividend. The  unsurprising news  of the week is that Liberty Global (NASDAQ: LBTYA ) is finding it difficult to work out a deal with Vodafone (NASDAQ: VOD ). To most investors it shouldn't be a shock that the companies are struggling to find common ground on a deal in the midst of stricter regulatory scrutiny of related mergers in Europe. The original  investment thesis  surrounding this potential deal back in June questioned some of the logic supportive of a workable deal. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha.  Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Vodafone is rallying similar to early 2014 due to another potential deal. The European focused wireless operator has an interesting opportunity for a combination with Liberty Global. The details suggest the operational overlap might not provide the necessary synergies and benefits expected of such a large-scale deal. The recent stock surge of Vodafone (NASDAQ: VOD ) toward $40 has a similar feeling to the run with the sale of Verizon Wireless to Verizon (NYSE: VZ ). In both cases, the stock made a rapid rise within a few months from the low $30s. The question is whether Vodafone holds and even builds on the gains this time. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Vodafone ( NASDAQ: VOD     ) shares dropped 5% on the fourth-quarter earnings release, providing investors with an ideal entry point. After the disposal of Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications ( NYSE: VZ     ) , investors got a view into the stand-alone operations of the mostly European and India wireless operator and the market didn't like that initial view of Vodafone. It's important for investors to step back and assess the situation now. Hammered by Europe Results for Vodafone from the fourth quarter that ended in March were greatly affected by a European market that remains extremely weak. Organic service revenue in the region plunged 9.1% from the prior-year period, pushing down full-year revenue by nearly 4%. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Earlier this week, AT&T ( T ) reported Q4'13 earnings that generally disappointed the street. From low wireless subscriber additions to concerns about cash and empowered competitors, the second largest domestic wireless provider got hit hard initially. Ironically though, the stock snapped back on Wednesday to finish virtually even with the large 1% losses in the major averages. AT&T is the classic example of a difficult to value large cap. The company is embroiled in a new war for 4G wireless network supremacy with Verizon Wireless ( VZ ) and facing pricing pressure from suddenly viable Sprint ( S ) and T-Mobile ( TMUS ) . Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long T. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Despite a huge run-up in the stock following the sale of Verizon Wireless, Vodafone ( VOD ) still offers a lot of value to shareholders. The stock has long been associated with the 45% investment in the successful American wireless company, but Vodafone has a whole European business to offer investors that is often overlooked. Though Vodafone can be difficult to value considering all the moving parts with the deal, it appears one can value the company based on removing the assets being returned to shareholders and the forecasted free cash flow for the remaining businesses in 2014. The valuation might surprise investors considering the large run over the last few months based on the $130 billion offer from Verizon ( VZ ) . Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VOD and T. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Back in September, Vodafone ( NASDAQ: VOD     ) agreed to sell its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to majority owner Verizon Communications ( NYSE: VZ     ) for the astonishing amount of $130 billion. The deal has sent Vodafone soaring to a valuation of $180 billion, and in the process, reduced the dividend yield to around 4.2%. Outside the Verizon Wireless investment, Vodafone is a large wireless provider in the major European countries of Germany, the Netherlands, U.K., Italy, and Spain along with select investments in Africa and Asia. The company has roughly 500 million wireless subscribers around the world making it one of the largest mobile carriers. With the Verizon Wireless deal heading toward completion, the market is starting to wonder if Vodafone can justify its current price. Read the full article here . Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Last week Verizon ( VZ ) and Vodafone ( VOD ) reached the historic deal for Verizon to obtain sole ownership of the much coveted Verizon Wireless asset. Regardless of your position on the transaction, the stock action of the two stocks since the leak of the purchase discussions at the end of April tells the story. In the couple of years prior to the news of the talks heating up, Verizon had easily outperformed Vodafone. Remember that Verizon owns 55% of Verizon Wireless while Vodafone owns the rest. Partially due to the focus on the better performing US market, Verizon had easily outperformed Vodafone over that time period. This fact was greatly enhanced due to Vodafone being focused on Europe and emerging markets outside of the Verizon Wireless ownership. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The recent speculation that Vodafone (VOD) will sell the 45% stake in Verizon Wireless it doesn't own sent the stock surging 8%. As a prime member of the Net Payout Yields model due to a large dividend and a smaller buyback, the gains in Vodafone helped push the model up to over 21% gains for the year. This compares favorably to the 14.9% gain in the S&P 500 and places the model on a path for three straight years of easily surpassing the index. The below data comes from the model managed on Covestor . Annualized since inception (nearly 3 years now), the model has outperformed the market on average by 6.5% not including fees. Naturally future performance can not be guaranteed, but the model is a consistent grower as it consistently shifts into high net payout yielding stocks. Disclosure: Long VOD. Please see the disclaimer page for more details. 

This model was up 3.4% in April versus a 1.8% gain for the benchmark S&P 500. The model out performed the market in April to build onto a solid start from the first quarter of 2013. As of the end of April, the model was up nearly 15.1% for the year compared to 12.0% for the S&P 500.   In general, the model remains very uneventful with only one trade for the month. Bottom Performers Since the model had a strong month, only a couple of stocks had a negative return for April. The weakest stock was Motorola Solutions (MSI) with a loss of over 10%. Only a few other stocks even posted a loss and none of those are worth mentioning. Motorola Solutions reported a weak quarterly report that sent the stock down significantly. The theory of the model doesn’t care about the fundamentals of the company so the key will be whether the management team continues to buyback stock and pay dividends. With a dividend yield of only 1.8%, the key with this stock will...

The rumors are always ripe in the Verizon Wireless saga between 55% owner Verizon ( VZ ) and 45% owner Vodafone ( VOD ) . The news has gone from a Verizon buyout of Vodafone's share to buying all of Vodafone and now back to buying out Vodafone's share. The latest news leak is that Verizon has hired advisors for a bid of $100B for the Verizon Wireless stake. Could Vodafone with a $150B market cap really receive a $100B payout on its 45% stake? Actually the data suggests the value will be 20-30% higher. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Prior to the open on Tuesday, Verizon Communications, Inc. (VZ) reported disappointing Q4 adjusted earnings as high subsidy costs for Apple (AAPL) iPhones hurt margins. While the company is becoming the leading domestic provider for 4G wireless services, the biggest question in the telecom sector remains whether it can continue to generate enough cash flow to pay for the capital expenditures to constantly upgrade the networks. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The amazing part about the current rally is that the slow growing industries such as utilities and cable companies have led the rally. For the most part though, the rally hasn't been based on any fundamental changes in those industries. Most notably the move has been based on an investor chase for yield. Stocks paying 4% dividend yields are attracting investors getting next to nothing in 10-year Treasuries. So why has Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) followed in that rally? The current yield of 1.8% shouldn't be enough to attract investors with the stock trading at nearly 17x next year's earnings. In comparison, Time Warner Cable (TWC) pays 2.3%, while communications providers AT&T (T), V erizon Communications (VZ) , and Vodafone (VOD) pay over 4%. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long VOD. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Vodafone (VOD) remains a better investing option compared to Verizon (VZ) or, for that matter, AT&T (T) . While Vodafone remains a pure play on international wireless growth, the other two companies are bogged down with wireline operations. Vodafone is a U.K.-based telecommunication firm, with operations in over 30 countries, and serves more than 400 million customers worldwide. It is a global telecom giant with a significant presence in countries like Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as India, Africa and the Middle East. More importantly, the crown jewel of Verizon, Verizon Wireless, is 45% owned by Vodafone, giving the company a huge investment in the U.S. Another important distinction is that the U.S. firms continue to throw on huge amounts of debt in order to support their significant dividend payout ratios. Due to stronger stock gains, their dividend yields are now lower than Vodafone's, making the Vodafone stock more attractive. Read the full article at Seeking Alph...

Verizon Communications (VZ) continues to be able to squeeze out costs from a slow growing revenue base. Though Q212 revenues only grew 3.7%, the bottom line grew by 12.3%. This gain was largely due to a reduction in the cost of services and sales by $262M combined with a $38M reduction in interest expense. Verizon is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wireline services to consumer, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless has more than 94M retail customers though it is 45% owned by Vodafone (VOD) . Though operating efficiency continues to improve the most concerning part has to be that wireless revenue is only increasing 7.3%. If Sprint (S) ever becomes a more formidable competitor, Verizon might see the ability to lower costs and improve margins come to an end with little growth to spare. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long AAPL. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

The Department of Justice sued to block AT&T's (T) proposed $39B aquisition of T-Mobile USA  a division of Deutsche Telekom (DTE). While the stock of T has dropped 4% and Sprint (S) has jumped over 7%, this news really shouldn't be that surprising. Maybe thats just a sign of how lax the DOJ had gotten over the last few years regarding mergers. The deal involves reducing the top 4 competitors down to 3. In all effective purposes the deal ultimately drops the competition to T and Verizon Wireless, a division of Verizon (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD). Clearly T was shocked by the DOJ move as they offered up a package of $7B if the deal gets blocked. This makes the chances of a deal being worked out a lot larger. Whats the odds of the government ultimately requiring T to send $3B to Germany? Especially now that the Communications Workers Association (CWA) is upset about the deal being blocked. Obama is too pro union to ignore the requests of the CWA. Ultimately the deal should c...

On Thursday, Verizon Wireless  announced  it was finally going to distribute dividends to shareholders Verizon ( VZ ) and Vodafone ( VOD ) in January 2012. The last dividend paid was back in 2005. The theory goes that Verizon Wireless was going to hold onto the cash until Verizon could consummate a purchase of the 45% of Verizon WIreless from Vodafone it didn't already own. Apparently Verizon was unable to hold off any longer and needed the cash to pay its own dividends. Clearly, from the stock reaction and the planned use of the proceeds, Vodafone is the better investment. Vodafone was up 4.5% Friday and  plans to pay  nearly $3B in special dividends in February 2012. Meanwhile, Verizon was down 2% as the company indicates it will use the cash to just keep the current dividends going.  Read the full article at SeekingAlpha.com.  Disclosure: Long VOD in client and personal accounts. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.