Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)

"All these financiers, all these little gnomes of Zurich and those other financial centres, about whom we keep on hearing." - Harold Wilson  My Gnome has not been heard from in several years - as we had a falling out.  But he appeared over the last ...

Last week I took Verizon off of my "Best Ideas List":   Apr 22, 2021 ' 10:30 AM EDT DOUG KASS Reduce/Sell Verizon * Weaker than expected quarter reported * The loss of post paid subscribers is disturbing I didn't like Verizon's (VZ) quarter and if I...

* Weaker than expected quarter reported * The loss of post paid subscribers is disturbing  I didn't like Verizon's quarter and if I was long I would now consider reducing/selling as my price target would be reduced from $60-$62 to $58-$60.  Verizon'...

* The decline in speculative stocks has been historic and broad-based - something I have been expecting for months * I remain bearish on the overall outlook for equities   Yesterday's market was brutal and broad-based to the downside:  * The specula...

* Like Led Zeppelin's iconic and mystical 1971 song, the market's advance has become almost an imbedded religious experience now * Buy the classics - the classic laggards (like ViacomCBS, Discovery and Amazon) * Rock on for now while the music is st...

* Another win for the bulls   Though I remain negative on the major Indexes, I thought the market did an exceptional job of keeping the outsized gains of the last few trading sessions today.   * Market breadth was about 5-3 positive as measured by t...

* On the long side  While I find few stocks that meet my standard for selection (long) at current prices, here are some ideas:  * Amazon appears to have successfully moved above an important technical milestone at he price of $3100. The company's #s...

* What to do now  I continue to like ViacomCBS and Discovery as long trade rentals.  I liked yesterday's pin action in Verizon , Walmart , and Twitter .  And I would invest in all three at current prices - on the long side.  I still like Schwab  and...

* Slowly, but very surely, prior market leaders have crashed * At times, markets can churn when leadership is unclear or non existent * But, given current high valuations, a more ominous market outcome seems more likely * Consider "Uncle" Bob Farrel...

"You keep on stompin' And my heart is on the floor..." - Lewis Gizzard, You Done Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat  In yesterday's opening missive, "The Market Is a Hard Dog to Keep Under the Porch," I argued that the U.S. stock market ...

My Takeaways * The damage today was broad-based * I ended the day with a medium-sized net short exposure (down from very large at the beginning of the day) * Banks may have had a buying climax today * Tech (especially of a speculative-kind) remains ...

Verizon getting jiggy.  

Sarge has a very thoughtful column about Verizon that is a must read!   I share Sarge's optimism and agree with him on a possible valuation reset.  And I also share the reward vs. risk calculus.

A lot of activity today. A real lot. If you can't follow (which is understandable!) I am left with the following:  Longs: Verizon VZ, Bank of America , Citigroup , JPMorgan , Wells Fargo , , Shorts: Bonds, Homebuilders, Hilton , Hyatt , Twitter , Di...

* Verizon and Chevron purchased, banks and gold sold * None of these portfolio moves surprised me - but some might surprise the markets Warren Buffett pulled down his cash position a bit and got more busy in the latest reporting period.   Notably:  ...

"Just one more thing." -- Lt. Columbo Berkshire Hathaway has accumulated nearly 150 million shares of Verizon according to this afternoon's 13F filing. The shares are trading +$1.60/share or about +3% in the after hours. More tomorrow.