AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has a lot going for it, especially in current market conditions.
Source: Mike Mozart via Flickr
If I told you that inflation was closer to 10%, and nowhere near the 3% that you’ve been told, would you panic? Would you even believe me? Well, the bad news is that it is true.
The good news is that the Liberty Portfolio, my stock advisory newsletter, creates a long-term diversified portfolio that aims to be inflation with less risk than the market carries.
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The other good news is that there are stocks like T stock that, between its generous dividend and growth possibilities, may be able to help keep your portfolio at pace with inflation.
AT&T was not on my radar as an obsolete telecom company, despite its solid dividend, until it purchased satellite-TV distributor DIRECTV. This was both necessary and essential for T stock. Sure, telecom bought in plenty of revenue, meaning cash flow, and therefore AT&T stock had a consistent dividend. But it lacked earnings growth.
DIRECTV was important for T stock because it was a natural tie-in in terms of bundling content distribution with telecom, and the ability for DIRECTV content to make the leap onto cellular phones outfitted with AT&T technology. Yet, the other angle for T stock with this merger was that content distribution is an oligopoly. American homes either have cable or satellite TV. That means regular, recurring revenue to receive that content on a monthly basis, which translates to even more cash flow.
DIRECTV also has so many different add-ons that upsells and more cash flow were made possible.
The natural move after this was to get into content production. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) had already purchased NBC-Universal. Enough years had passed for T stock management to see that this contributed to cash flow as well, so it bought up Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX).
And why not? AT&T already had the pieces in place for distribution, both via satellite, its U-verse cable product and over the phone. Time Warner has a ton of content that has been successfully been churned out for ages. This includes the premier pay-cable channel, Home Box Office. Not to mention a lock on tons of sports programming Turner Sports, PGA.comm Bleacher Report, NBA.com, NCAA.com, the big-money NBA League Pass (and NFL Sunday Ticket with DIRECTV), along with the big kahunas of Warner Brothers Studios, DC Comics, WB TV, and more than two dozen investments in strategically-positioned companies.