Canaccord analyst Paul Morgan views Equinix's (EQIX) deal for Verizon's (VZ) data center portfolio very favorably, saying it is both strategic and accretive. The deal boosts Equinix revenues and offers strong synergies with the Federal government, said Morgan, who thinks the company was able to cherry-pick a portfolio with high geographic overlap and avoided a non-core asset overlap. Morgan reiterated his Buy rating and $420 price target on Equinix shares.

Ribbon Communications (RRBN) announced plans for a major network modernization program with Verizon (VZ) to retire legacy TDM switching platforms and replace their function with modern cloud-based technologies. Verizon is leveraging Ribbon's portfolio of Voice Products including the vC20 Call Controller, G5 Line Access Gateway, G6 Universal Media Gateway, virtual and Cloud-native Session Border Controllers, and other products which allows for the consolidation and replacement of equipment with energy efficient, software-centric platforms while maintaining full feature functionality.

Wells Fargo lowered the firm's price target on Verizon to $40 from $44 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares. The firm sees encouraging signs in Q1 - improvement in sub trends and limited churn from price-ups - offset by some softness in the business segment and prepaid. Wells would get more constructive when there's visibility on a sustainable improvement in sub trends.