Vitaliy Katsnelson of Investment Management Associates likes Vodafone\u2019s relatively modest debt and its diversified portfolio of cellular holdings, which includes a 3.2% stake in China Mobile. (The Market Folly blog contains a point-by-point summary of Katsnelson\u2019s case for Vodafone.)<\/p>\n
So why can\u2019t I get excited about Vodafone? It seems to me that cellular companies all face the same problem: they\u2019re offering a service that is hard to differentiate from competitors\u2019 offerings. One phone call is much like another. No consumer has ever exclaimed with delight at having his call handled by Carrier A and not Carrier B. <\/p>\n
A cell company can try to stand out by investing billions in building a superior network, but even such massive capital projects offer only limited relief from competition. Eventually your rivals will match whatever you have in place.<\/p>\n
The most likely future for cellular firms is one of relentless competition and dwindling profits. Vodafone is a fine company, but it can\u2019t escape the gravitational field of its industry. Dividend investors may want to sign up for its lush yields, but if so, why not go for the biggest yield possible? For my money, I prefer BCE Inc., with its 5.7% dividend yield, to Vodafone, with its 3.7% yield.<\/p>\n
Freelance business journalist Ian McGugan blogs for the Financial Post.<\/i> <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lots of investment newsletters and blogs are talking up the merits of Vodafone Group PLC, the global cell phone carrier. I\u2019m skeptical. But before explaining why, let me outline the bull\u2019s case. The argument for Vodafone begins with the fact it\u2019s cheap. It trades for less than book value and for about 14 times earnings. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4060,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-494171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4060"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}