Does AT&T Have a Bright Future?

With shares of AT&T (NYSE:T) trading around $33, is T an OUTPERFORM, WAIT AND SEE, or STAY AWAY? Let's analyze the stock with the relevant sections of our CHEAT SHEET investing framework:

T = Trends for a Stock’s Movement

AT&T is a provider of telecommunications services in the United States and worldwide. Services offered include wireless communications, local exchange services, and long-distance services. AT&T operates in four segments: Wireless, Wireline, Advertising Solutions, and Other. The communications products offered through AT&T's segments reach audiences using just about every widely adopted medium: Internet, voice, television, and mobile. As consumers continue to adopt this technology, providers like AT&T stand to see rising profits.

Investors in Vodafone (NASDAQ:VOD) waiting for a bumper pay-off from a £70bn bid from AT&T were dealt a blow on Monday after the American group ruled itself out from making a bid for its UK rival. The announcement will prevent the US group from bidding for the Vodafone for six months, although the move was seen by analysts as more of a hiatus than hard stop for one of the most widely anticipated deals in the European corporate sector.

T = Technicals on the Stock Chart Are Weak

AT&T stock has been range-bound over the past couple of years. The stock is currently trading sideways and may need time to consolidate. Analyzing the price trend and its strength can be done using key simple moving averages. What are the key moving averages? The 50-day (pink), 100-day (blue), and 200-day (yellow) simple moving averages. As seen in the daily price chart below, AT&T is trading below its rising key averages which signal neutral to bearish price action in the near-term.

(Source: Thinkorswim)

Taking a look at the implied volatility (red) and implied volatility skew levels of AT&T options may help determine if investors are bullish, neutral, or bearish.

	Implied Volatility (IV)	30-Day IV Percentile	90-Day IV Percentile
AT&T options	18.20%	53%	51%

What does this mean? This means that investors or traders are buying a significant amount of call and put options contracts, as compared to the last 30 and 90 trading days.

	Put IV Skew	Call IV Skew
February Options	Steep	Average
March Options	Steep	Average

As of today, there is an average demand from call buyers or sellers and high demand by put buyers or low demand by put sellers, all neutral to bearish over the next two months. To summarize, investors are buying a significant amount of call and put option contracts and are leaning neutral to bearish over the next two months.

On the next page, let’s take a look at the earnings and revenue growth rates and the conclusion.

E = Earnings Are Increasing Quarter-Over-Quarter

Rising stock prices are often strongly correlated with rising earnings and revenue growth rates. Also, the last four quarterly earnings announcement reactions help gauge investor sentiment on AT&T’s stock. What do the last four quarterly earnings and revenue growth (Y-O-Y) figures for AT&T look like and more importantly, how did the markets like these numbers?

	2013 Q3	2013 Q2	2013 Q1	2012 Q4
Earnings Growth (Y-O-Y)	N/A	7.58%	11.67%	-39.59%
Revenue Growth (Y-O-Y)	N/A	1.58%	-1.46%	0.23%
Earnings Reaction	-1.84%	-1.14%	-5.02%	0.80%

AT&T has seen increasing earnings and revenue figures over the last four quarters. From these numbers, the markets have had conflicting feelings about AT&T’s recent earnings announcements.

P = Excellent Relative Performance Versus Peers and Sector

How has AT&T stock done relative to its peers, Verizon (NYSE:VZ), Sprint (NYSE:S), T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS), and sector?

	AT&T	Verizon	Sprint	T-Mobile	Sector
Year-to-Date Return	-4.88%	-2.52%	-18.30%	-7.82%	-4.07%

AT&T has been a relative performance leader, year-to-date.

Conclusion

AT&T is a communications and entertainment company that operates around the world. The company no longer intends to make an offer for Vodafone. The stock has been consolidating in recent years and is currently trading sideways. Over the last four quarters, earnings and revenues have been increasing. However, investors have had conflicting feelings about recent earnings announcements. Relative to its peers and sector, AT&T has been a relative year-to-date performance leader. WAIT AND SEE what AT&T does next.