Vodafone Group PLC (VOD)

Been buying for new clients because he likes the outlook. 2^nd biggest wireless telephone company globally with operations in Europe, Asia and Africa, but the prize asset is 45% ownership of Verizon Wireless US (VZ-N). Verizon has paid out about $10 billion in dividends each year in the last 2 years. Thinks this will be a happening on an accelerating and ongoing basis. Meantime he believes Verizon would like to get its hands on the rest of Verizon Wireless. Thinks that Vodafone is amenable to selling their holdings at the right price and to buy up some of its minority assets in Europe, Asia and Africa. There is also talk of Verizon and AT&T buying up all of this company. There is so much smoke out there, that he believes there is some kind of fire.

There is a rumour that AT&T and Verizon are interested in taking this company over. Not an impossibility. At the end of the day you are going to see consolidation in these industries. He won’t comment on the takeover, but he likes wireless as a key theme. This one pays a 5% yield.

News just came out that AT&T and Verizon were possibly teaming up to buy this company. The value in this company is twofold. One is in their wireless operating network which is in Europe and India and then the other big chunk of value is Verizon wireless, where they have a 45% stake. Pays a really nice dividend. If you don’t own, wait until things settle down.

Looked at this one quite closely last summer but went to another stock that had far better growth prospects. Current dividend of around 8% is sustainable as long as Verizon’s (VZ-N) wireless entity continues to kick out a very large dividend. He is highly sceptical that AT&T (T-N) and Verizon would look to take a run at this company. Has huge exposure to Europe, in Britain, Spain and Germany where the regulatory environment is very, very tough.

A lot of moving parts in this company. Just did the UK spectrum thing but it wasn’t as high as everybody expected, which was good. Dividend is fine. Big issue is, what happens with Verizon Wireless (VZ-N)? They own a big chunk and will be getting dividends from them, but in the long run, they have to make some decisions. Consolidated and gotten rid of a lot of non-core businesses. The other part is how they monetize the data part of their business. The voice part is not the issue.

Stock has done well in the last year, but telecom sector overall has kind of been in the doldrums for the last couple of years. This one is a British based, but really global telecom company. Industry is struggling right. When you look at the revenue growth it’s okay if you are in emerging markets, etc. The difficulty for these companies is margins. Margins are likely to trend down in the next few years.

Own 45% of Verizon wireless. If they could spin off their Verizon holdings, you would basically be getting this company free. Thinks that is going to happen this year. Yield of 3.65%.

Second-biggest wireless company globally after China Mobile. The best asset they have is their 45% interest in Verizon Wireless (VZ-N). Right now they are getting $10 billion a year in dividends. He expects Verizon to either buy Verizon Wireless from Vodafone or to merge with Vodafone. Good yield of 5.7%.

Has a big stake in Verizon (VZ-N), which he owns. This stock hasn’t gone anywhere for a couple of years. The dividend is nice but there has been no capital appreciation.

They are going to have to bid for high speed licenses and there is the cost of that. And also how they manage their data. They owned pieces of all kinds of businesses and they consolidated. People need to learn how they will decide to price data and get value out of their core customers. Certainly they can manage their dividend. Europe needs to cut down the number of players in the wireless business. If you pick it up here you will do well with it.

Had trials over the last while. Keep buying back stock and it keeps going down. Might be selling interest in Verizon. Wait until new regulation in Europe re telecoms are published.

Vodafone (VOD-Q) or Deutsche Telekom (DTE-FSE)? The special dividend on this one relates to the eventual monetization of Verizon Wireless (VZ-N) assets which has an estimated value of about $110 million and this company owns 44% of it. Both are interesting and both could offer good upside.

Great dividend, semiannual, paid a couple of weeks ago. Growth for them is in the emerging markets. Europe has flat lined, but that is ok because they own a big chunk of Verizon. Good yield and stable. Has the capability of really ramping up growth as the emerging markets start to grow.

Great balance sheet. Owns 45% of Verizon (VZ-N) and will be getting a dividend. There is some bidding for 4G in Europe and they may end up paying a little bit more for this. A lot of revenue comes from voice over wireless. How do they price data effectively? This is a headwind that a lot of the cell phone companies face. A little bit worried that they make up their dividend. 6.3% dividend. Cheap.

Core holding. Crown jewel is 44% stake in Verizon wireless. Special dividend paid down debt and bought back stock. Made an acquisition in New Zealand. It is growing in emerging markets. It is struggling in Europe who are in recession, but growth from emerging markets and US is there. At some point Verizon will be monetized and it will be substantial.