Thoughts on AT&T (T) as a stock to purchase?
 

Company has numerous times, CEO, confirmed commitment to 6-7% dividend.
Q1 was on the upside
high debt but appears able to manage debt and still have some free cash flow.

Any thoughts as a stock to purchase?

Warner media.....CNN. No way

OP, ask a question and isn’t that what this forum is about? OP, ATT is a “blue chip” stock and a couple of my mutual funds have the stock. As I don’t follow the Market closely anymore, frankly I let the “various diversified funds” pick the stocks and it’s all been good and much less stressful than picking and trading in the market daily, or weekly. As noted, ATT pays a very nice dividend and IMHO an excellent conservative stock pick. Of course, there are others so to each his own.

Ah, I think that there are other better stocks for a dividend plus growth, than AT&T. The competition and investment requirements are intense. . .but I am just a poster on a retirement development web site, and could be anyone. . .

Best to talk with your investment advisor that a bunch of web site typists

and yes I am in corp finance. . .

The very people you are seeking advice from have investment companies that advise them. Get your own.

Absolutely!!!

People come here for advice on: retirement, golf carts, houses, brokers, pizza, dog poop, mortgages, impact fees, NOTHING, humidity, plumbers, golf conditions, doctors.

Excellent choice, I have been in AT&T for about 1 1/2 years. I tell my friends about this stock. I started watching around 26 to 27. Pays a great dividend of 6.8% the high at one time was around 39. So I feel there’s room to go up. Pays quarterly dividends. Also check IIM a muni fund pays 4.9% fed tax free. Pays monthly dividend. I have been in this for over 5 years. Trades like a stock buy today sell tomorrow. No term.

Oh I forgot AT&T is now around 31.50 nice move up and a great dividend. I have been in since $26.78. Enjoy very little risk AT&T is not going bankrupt.

Oooooooooo, you were doing so well until this statement.

:ohdear:

Too much debt. If you're not adverse to 'sin stocks', check out MO.

Oh thank you

I have a bridge with very little usage that would be available for a good price.

On a different note consider a dividend growth type mutual fund that will pay less in dividends than A T and T but give you diversification with less risk.

Check their debt! If you are buying strictly for dividend,
then go for it. It will not appreciate much until it sheds
some debt.

Ah, yes, what a surprise — snide comments from the patrol boys. Not sure why some posters think they have to judge and approve every question.

Anyway, OP (TNGary), I understand what you are asking — because I also like to talk generally about individual stocks sometimes.

It looks like you are watching T closely. That dividend is tempting and you are aware of the debt thing.

I need to look at whether they have increased the dividend again. CEOs do not like to lose the status that goes with years and years of consecutive dividend increases — even if the increase has to be a tiny one. (I am going to look this up later.)

If you don’t own any T right now, you might want to buy a few shares — which will make it more interesting for you to follow, without betting the farm. See how owning it makes you feel. (Yeah, I have to determine how a stock makes me “feel” but maybe that’s a woman thing. :) )

I looked this morning to see how Fidelity’s rating looked and the computer-generated number was at the low end of neutral. But I am never sure what goes into that number.

Anyway, thanks for the discussion, and good luck with your decision.

Boomer

One poster recommended GUT as a dividend investment.

All stocks are a matter of opinion. I recall reading no one is right all the time. To make money you just need to be right more often then you are wrong.

Are you asking about T? I hold some. Some of what I hold is worth more than I paid for it. Some is worth less than my cost not counting the dividends. I bought the new lower priced shares intending to have as many shares at a lower cost and have the taxman share part of my loss. To date it has not reached my sell price. Preserving the high dividend? Promises do not mean much. Right now they are borrowing money to pay the dividend. There are always buyers and sellers. If, you are buying perhaps you will end up with the shares I am selling when they hit my ask price.

We all want safety and stocks that only go up and of course pay a great dividend. Reality is so truly rude and real.

I didnt think my comment was snide, when I need investment advise would want to go to people who are knowledgeable not a bunch of anonymous folks who may or may not have a clue on stocks.

That old joke is about the Brooklyn bridge an made fun of uneducated immigrants. It is way above my ability to raise money however it could be a good investment at the right price.
Scrap value? I seem to recall reading the cables are not steel but are wrought iron which is not as strong as steel but is rust resistant. Steel production no longer starts with wrought iron to which you add carbon to make steel. Most real wrought iron comes from scrap. I can't help it. At the right price the Brooklyn Bridge would be a steal.

We tend to think alike until we read an try to make it make sense. Knowledgeable vs dismissing others. We tend to dismiss people who do not repeat what we do not realize we are repeating as being wrong or more often we choose other demeaning adjectives.

Knowledgeable? Buffet is knowledgeable personified. We have even coined the term Buffet like. I find the reality amusing. Buffet has said that was a mistake I lost 45 million dollars on that-oops. My reality, was I to lose 45 million there would be a lot of people wondering how they could have been so stupid as to lend me that much money.
Buffet does not even trade in the same market where we prawns swim. Also amusing
Buffet is 86 years old. Buffet says he buys stocks for long term. Is he in different world? Buffet is a math genius. Does he simply refuse to see an actuarial table?

Diversified? Our most recent collapse, was it 2006. Real Estate took a dive. Stocks took a dive. Bonds took a dive. Antiques took a dive. The only thing that held it's value was gold. No I did not have gold then and I do not have gold now.

We think gold and real estate always go up. I remind all of us, including me EXCEPT WHEN THEY DON'T.

I love getting investment advice from TOTV. I put it right behind getting legal advice on TOTV. Of course, the medical advice is outstanding. Given all that I have learned here about medical advice, I think I am ready to do open heart surgery on myself. Right after that, I will follow the legal advice and then the investment advice that others have so thoughtfully provided on TOTV.

There is a reason why people rely upon experts. Unless one thinks they have greater knowledge than those who have trained to be "experts" in their fields and who have spent a huge number of years in their education and in excess of 40 hours per week immersed in their field of expertise, I should think it might be worth the money to consult the "experts" not typists posting in TOTV. Thank god, Amazon was slow in delivering the scalpels!

If you have money in a savings account, which is paying less than 1 percent interest, you may want to allow that same money to earn 6 percent interest, or more, with high dividend stocks. Research these 3 stocks : EPD, UTG, T. Or, just continue to lose asset value due to inflation.

For over 30 years I have gradually bought T. It mostly has moved within a ten point band and I have added to my position when I felt it low. T is only about 5% of my portfolio. I would not bet the farm on it but it has provided a high dividend yield during a long historically low interest period

Any answer here would be to short to be of any real value. I currently hold (T) a commitment to hold the dividend and not cut it, is a statement. It is not binding or a guarantee. Depending on when I bought my shares some are worth more than I paid and others are worth less than I paid. Neither counts the dividend I do not drip dividends. My view since we no longer pay commissions dripping makes zero sense.
As far as the dividends, (T) is borrowing money to pay it-not a good business model.

I have decided to sell my most expensive shares and take the tax loss. In every stock trade there is a buyer and a seller. If, you are buying and it hits my price your shares may well be very local.

Often a four line post on complex subjects leaves out simple good manners. It is true to all that interest on safe cash after inflation and taxes is negative numbers. However, reality
money to buy stocks, invest or more true gamble that it will not go down from your buy price, has to come from somewhere-that is cash.

OP asked for thoughts, not advice.

Re: telling your friends
I am very cautious about doing that. If, they follow your advice they will tell everyone how smart THEY are. If, they lose money they will tell everyone how dumb you are. One way or the other it is a lose not a win for you.

To me AT&T is not a purchase for growth. It is a purchased to buy and hold for its dividend. It's current dividend yield is 6.77% That is the reason I would purchase the stock. However, I would wait until after Monday, May 4 as that is the dividend payout date for this quarter ($0.52) and the stock will usually drop by that amount on the payout date.

Seems to me that is a distinction without a difference.

Nah, you weren't rude
 

Nah, you weren't rude, more like direct, which some people don't like as much.

My wife is a very beat around the bush type, particularly in typing emails to customers, vendors, and colleagues, not wanting to be just direct and to the point.

I tend to be direct as well, some times too much, but I also know my audience so that if I know the person to whom I am directly speaking and they are not the direct type, then I don't do the direct type, but this is a bbs, web site, and anyone can be offended by anything, and that's where differing opinions makes the world go round.

corp finance guy

AT&T will be coming into a lot of money in January. They just screwed over thousands of retirees by reducing benefits. Drastically lowered life insurance coverage payouts, Death benefit payouts and Health insurance coverage. These are existing retirees they are hurting.

Is this a Buy recommendation??

The rules of the game have changed dramatically. First of all access to information and opinion is easy to find. You mention Fidelity. They offer no commission trades. You can buy partial shares. I regularly discover what I don't know. Much is rumor and opinion. A trade of say 100 shares. It sometimes shows say 10 trades to fill an order for 100 shares. Three shares, six shares, 20 shares etc oh and all at the same tenth of a second. No commission, and no advantage to buying round lots-100 shares, makes it a whole new ballgame.

In an IRA it is supposed to be TAX FREE till you withdraw the funds and they are taxed at you regular income rate. That, right now small nuance TAX they charge you every time you sell. Ask them about this TAX and they will spin it as a FEE not a tax. A tax by any other name is still a tax. Bring it up and they may well ask if you know DAVE.

I think it was Ben Franklin who said watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves.

Amazed how people will come here asking for advise from people they know nothing about.

Last week went to a financial dinner with the so called advisor telling us how many people he has helped in over 20 years.

Noticed he said nothing about his background and didnt want questions so during the dinner planned to ask questions.

His office manager comes around to collect the sheets on setting up appointments so ask her the question. She has no clue.

Later on he comes around and I ask the question and he starts telling me about his childhood and early schooling so finally look at him and say you do realize that is not what I am asking.

Than he tells me about the on line courses he took. Never mentioned any classes in whatever schooling he did. Said thank you and he walked away.

Remarkably nobody seems to think this is important when he is asking you to entrust your life sayings with him.

Was a very nice dinner though.

AT&T does have a great dividend yield. However, I am surprised know one has mentioned the pay out ratio which is -594%!! This is not a good sign. But everyone has their own risk level.

Look past the headlines.

Yes. Those kinds of records of trades can be tedious. I always set a limit price on a trade and now I plug in “all or none” on the order. With no commissions now, I realize making the order read “all or none” might seem moot. But I just don’t want to see little batches traded within nano-seconds when I look at buy and sell histories.

I never recommend a stock — although, obviously, sometimes I do like to discuss stocks. Earlier in this thread, I did recommend playing around, just a little, with a stock to see what you really think about owning it — for real — for a more significant amount or time. (Easiest done, if possible, inside an IRA so no tax consequences for capturing a gain if you want to.)

Nobody can predict the market. I am aware that even without commissions built in and semi-hidden fees, a lot of those giving “expert” advice get paid on a percentage basis. If it’s 1% a year, they tap the account quarterly. Whether the client is making money or not, the advisor always does — obviously more when the investments are up — but never “nothing.”

Dave, I am not clear on what you mean about IRAs and the “fee” you mention. All I know is that IRAs remain tax-deferred until tapped, whether by choice or because the RMD age has been reached. That’s when the tax-hit happens. (At RMD age, using a QCD, if charitably inclined, can be a tax advantage and a good one — definitely worth learning about to consider, at least.)

I think if you hit an IRA before 59 & 1/2, there is an early withdrawal tax penalty and I am pretty sure it’s 10%. But those are the only things I know about tax consequences from an IRA. I don’t know anything about a “fee” other than the tax thing.

Anyway, thanks for the conversation.

Boomer

Yep. Just looked at some research and saw that. Never saw a payout ratio like that before. (Pause for thought.)

WOW! a friend of mine has a CFP, CFA and CMT. He would go to the dinners, get a nice meal, sign up for a meeting, and never show up to the meeting. He also would ask questions as he know the answers, and some stopped sending him invitations.

I prefer to make my own mistakes and pay my education to learn than to give my money to someone else and lose it all.

Yes, there are very, very few people who will create a great personal plan for you,customized to see what you can do, etc.

finance guy

Some of these people give me food for thought and that makes it worth going, not to mention if the dinner is in a good restaurant we have wanted to try.

Do think it is wrong to make an appointment and not show up. Better to just tell them you are not interested in further discussions.

My view. A large part of knowledge is knowing what you don't know. For many people, they don't know but will gladly argue that what they don't know but they are sure they are right.

I am aware that there is an all or none option. I'm not sure if you chose that option it, might prevent your order from going through, As I stated I have had trades where it is say a few hundred shares and it trades in groups of weird numbers all at the same 10th of a second. Like 6 shares, 8 shares etc etc etc it seems to be impossible and yet, I've seen it many times. I don't recall ever placing a sell at whatever price I've put in and had only part of it sold. We do not see what is going on. I assume once part of your sell order goes though you get put on some sort of priority status.

Re: not recommending a stock. I proudly think different than most. In discussing a stock I always make it clear that I HAVE and say it as many times as necessary for it to sink in, I am not an expert. I will be happy if you make money because it means that I have made money. If, you lose money, I to have lost money. When, talking money, truth is it is very rare that anyone will tell you the truth. Many people even without knowing it lie to themselves. Wow I made xxxx on this trade and xxxx on that trade. It is far to easy to forget wow I lost it all plus on that trade. I like the fidelity reports. It keeps me honest with myself.

Re: 1% to an advisor. I don't know what your position is on this. As you said they do not take 1% of your gains. I may be wrong but I think that was made illegal at the time of the great depression. People do not understand math. If, an advisor is charging you 1%
and your account is 10,000 I don't think they would take such an account but the math is the same. 10,000x.01=$100. If, you make one percent that year they take your entire gain. If, you lose money that year say 1%, they still take their 1%. Fuzzy math but you are down not 1% but 2%. Nothing is free. Is it worth it? Perhaps.

Re: calling a TAX a fee in an IRA.
Actually the same is true in a ROTH. When, you sell a stock there is a FEE that goes to the government. I had looked it up in the past. This FEE that is a TAX on what is supposed to be a non-taxible account is as I stated a word spin. Right now, if, I recall it is like .15 on any sale. Like ,25 on 10,000. Yes, it is nominal. We should know from experience any TAX always works the same. It is slipped in and then it goes up.

As far as RMD. It is now 72. I have about a year to go. I am planing on what to do.
Last I looked giving to charity is limited to 100,000. I'm not sure what my number is.
But, I do expect tax laws to change in a year. I read years ago they need to keep changing the tax laws to prevent people from figuring out how to minimize the taxes they pay. There is no problem finding people ready, willing and able to take the money I've worked for.