AT&T Inc. expects huge cost savings after its $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp. Wall St. experts feel this may be just the start of a revival of telecommunications stocks.
Three exchange traded funds focusing on telecom stocks are enjoying the positive news and are some of the best performing ETFs during the last 30 days. They are, Vanguard Telecom Services VIPERs (VOX), Telecom HOLDRs (TTH) and iShares Dow Jones US Telecom (IYZ).
AT&T executives said the deal would be worth $89.4 billion — the $67.1 billion in AT&T stock being swapped for BellSouth stock, and $22.3 billion of debt being assumed by AT&T. BellSouth’s own net debt is $16.8 billion, and the portion of Cingular’s debt attributable to BellSouth is $5.5 billion.
AT&T said about 77 percent of its expected $18 billion net savings would be from reduced operating expenses. Work force cuts would represent about 50 percent of these reduced expenses.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.