AT&T (T) Stock Up as Warren Buffet Adds to Portfolio
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of AT&T (T) - Get Report are higher by 0.79% to $32.56 in mid-morning trading on Monday, after a quarterly 13-F filing released today showed Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B) reported a new share position in the telecommunications services company.
Berkshire Hathaway added a new 5.9 million share position in AT&T worth $1.93 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports.
AT&T is a Dallas-based provider of wireless communications, data/broadband and Internet services, video services, local exchange services, long-distance services, telecommunications equipment, managed networking and wholesale services.
Additionally, Berkshire Hathaway trimmed its position in both Wal-Mart (WMT) and Goldman Sachs (GS) in order to fund its $32 billion acquisition of Precision Castparts (PCP). The deal is expected to close in the early part of 2016.
Berkshire Hathaway sold 4.2 million shares in Wal-Mart and 1.67 million shares of Goldman Sachs.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates AT&T INC as a Buy with a ratings score of B-. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:
We rate AT&T INC (T) a BUY. This is driven by some important positives, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations and expanding profit margins. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.
Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
- The revenue growth came in higher than the industry average of 5.8%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues rose by 18.6%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displayed by a decline in earnings per share.
- Net operating cash flow has increased to $10,797.00 million or 23.76% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of 11.31%.
- The gross profit margin for AT&T INC is rather high; currently it is at 55.43%. Regardless of T's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 7.65% trails the industry average.
- AT&T INC's earnings per share declined by 16.7% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has suffered a declining pattern of earnings per share over the past year. However, we anticipate this trend reversing over the coming year. During the past fiscal year, AT&T INC reported lower earnings of $1.23 versus $3.41 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.70 versus $1.23).
- The change in net income from the same quarter one year ago has exceeded that of the S&P 500, but is less than that of the Diversified Telecommunication Services industry average. The net income has decreased by 4.3% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, dropping from $3,130.00 million to $2,994.00 million.
- You can view the full analysis from the report here: T
Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of Jim Cramer, TheStreet or any of its contributors.