NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Verizon Communications (VZ) - Get Report  are up 0.54% to $55.67 this morning amid speculation that the company is nearing a deal to acquire Yahoo's (YHOO) core business, Bloomberg reports.

Yahoo is selling its search and advertising business, but has not yet announced to whom.

Other bidders for the company include Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, Vector CapitalManagement, AT&T (T) and private equity firm TPG, according to Bloomberg.

Verizon, a New York-based communications giant, is said to be the favorite in the auction.

The deal is speculated to close in the next few days, Bloomberg reports.

Shares of Yahoo are up 0.26% to $38.95 this morning.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings rated this stock as a "buy" with a ratings score of A.

The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, revenue growth, expanding profit margins, growth in earnings per share and increase in net income. TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: VZ

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. 

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