Wireless carriers T-Mobile and AT&T are dominating the most famous street in America
AT&T is the nation's third-largest wireless carrier and rarely shows up on speed tests against T-Mobile and Verizon. Yet, it has been a historic year already for the company on that street we call Wall. With AT&T's shares up 16.3% for 2025 through March 6th, this is the best start that the stock has ever had according to Dow Jones Market Data. T-Mobile's shares are up 18.4% for the year through the same date while Verizon's shares are 9.6% in the black.
All three are well ahead of the S&P 500 which is often used as the benchmark for the whole stock market. The S&P 500 is down 2.8% during the same time span. Obviously, wireless providers are considered a good investment. Part of the reason is that with 10-year Treasury Note yielding only 4.29%, Verizon's current dividend yield of 6.16% and AT&T's yield of 4.18% make them interesting investments for income-oriented investors.
But there is more to the rise in wireless carrier shares than the dividend yield. Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino told MarketWatch that the carriers now have control over pricing for the first time in years and regular price hikes now seem to be part of how wireless companies do business these days. The analyst said as recently as two years ago, the industry didn't have pricing power which left investors worried that the high dividends paid by some of these companies were not sustainable over the long term.
AT&T's shares have recently started a new uptrend. | Image credit-Yahoo
AT&T and T-Mobile both have seen their shares show strong performances over the last 12 months with the latter up 62% and AT&T up 58%. Verizon is the laggard up less than 17%. T-Mobile continues to report strong numbers every quarter, about the only part of former CEO John Legere's legacy that hasn't been destroyed by current CEO Mike Sievert. T-Mobile continues to report the highest number of net new postpaid phone subscribers each quarter so the fact that the stock is only 4.2% from its all-time high makes sense.
AT&T is showing signs of turning things around and reported a strong fourth quarter that included the addition of 482,000 net postpaid phone additions with an industry-low postpaid phone churn of .85%. Verizon also had a strong fourth quarter with 568,000 net postpaid phone additions up from 449,000 during Q4 2023. Verizon's strong yield gives the stock price a floor lowering the risk to buyers.
Aggressive investors might be interested in T-Mobile with its industry-leading growth. Those who like to play trends might be interested in AT&T which is in a relatively fresh uptrend. Verizon might be of interest to those who buy stocks for the long term and remember, you're getting paid over 6% with the quarterly dividend while you wait for the stock to take off.
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