Deutsche Bank analyst Matthew Niknam upgraded Verizon Communications (VZ) to Buy from Hold with an unchanged price target of $56. The stock closed yesterday down 59c to $47.46. Following a heightened wave of aggressive competitive activity in recent years, wireless fundamentals are "meaningfully improving," Niknam tells investors in a research note. Industry pricing has stabilized, competitive intensity has moderated, and the industry's two biggest disruptors, T-Mobile (TMUS) and Sprint (S), have announced plans to merge, the analyst contends. He expects Verizon's Q2 results to reflect a return to normalized service revenue growth year-over-year for the first time since late 2014. The analyst also sees "upside optionality" for Verizon shares from 5G and Oath. Despite inflecting fundamentals and this optionality, Verizon continues to trade at a discounted valuation, Niknam says. He sees 18% upside from current share levels along with a 5% dividend yield, representing total return potential of 23%.

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Raymond James raised the firm's price target on T-Mobile to $196 from $185 and keeps a Strong Buy rating on the shares. T-Mobile reported a slight beat and raise in Q1, plus made its first noticeable investment in fiber, the analyst tells investors in a research note. T-Mobile is one of the 20 stocks on the 2024 Raymond James Analyst Best Picks and is still 2+ years ahead in 5G deployment including the most mid-band spectrum that the firm thinks will continue to drive subscriber and service revenue growth.

TD Cowen lowered the firm's price target on T-Mobile to $202 from $204 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The firm said they posted good 1Q24 results with upside phone adds, upside EBITDA, solid churn, record low UG rates, and an EBITDA guide raise.

RBC Capital raised the firm's price target on T-Mobile to $188 from $184 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The company posted mixed Q1 results, with service revenues in line, EBITDA and free cash flow above, and total revenue shy relative to consensus expectations, though the management also increased the guidance ranges for postpaid net additions, core adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow, the analyst tells investors in a research note. T-Mobile will continue to outpace its peers in postpaid/phone subscriber growth, the firm added.

KeyBanc analyst Brandon Nispel raised the firm's price target on T-Mobile to $185 from $175 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. T-Mobile reported mixed results, with service revenue slightly below expectations and adjusted EBITDA higher on better expenses, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm thinks 2024 guidance should be achievable and likely has upside and maintains that T-Mobile has created a sustainable 5G network advantage and subscribers will follow, and expects to see high single digit EBITDA growth and double digit free cash flow growth, which should be returned to shareholders.

Check out this evening's top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly. HIGHER AFTER EARNINGSSnap (SNAP) up... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.  1... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.  1... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

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.