Verizon Earnings In Line With Estimates

Earnings Scorecard
Actual	Estimated*	Year-Ago
$0.77	$0.77	$0.75

Verizon (VZ Quote - Cramer on VZ - Stock Picks), the telecom powerhouse formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, posted adjusted fourth-quarter earnings of 77 cents a share, in line with the First Call/Thomson Financial 18-analyst estimate and up from year-ago earnings of 75 cents a share.

Adjusted results for fourth quarter 1999 include results of the U.S. wireless properties of Vodafone Group (VOD Quote - Cramer on VOD - Stock Picks) that became part of Verizon Wireless as of April 2000.

"We're well positioned in 2001 to further transform our growth profile and move into our target ranges of 8% to 10% revenue growth and $3.13 to $3.17 earnings per share," said Verizon President and Co-CEO Ivan Seidenberg. The First Call 20-analyst consensus estimate for 2001 earnings is $3.14 a share.

Nearly 40% of Verizon's adjusted consolidated revenues for both the fourth quarter and the year were generated from high-growth data, wireless, long-distance, DSL and international services. In the fourth quarter, revenues from these services totaled about $6.6 billion, and for the year totaled more than $23.6 billion.

Verizon said it also achieved about $535 million in annual merger-related expense savings in 2000, making substantial progress toward its target of saving $2 billion a year in expenses by the end of 2003. These savings were achieved by such methods as re-negotiation and termination of contracts, the integration of information systems, the integration of call centers and operator service centers and the use of best practices to improve processes.