Is Wall Street Hanging Up On Verizon After Yahoo Deal?

It’s certainly been an eventful week for Verizon Communications Inc. VZ. The company kicked off the week by announcing that it has agreed to buy Yahoo! Inc. YHOO for $4.8 billion. Verizon then reported mixed Q2 results, including an earnings beat and a small revenue miss.

The stock has been one of the hottest large caps in the market in 2016, delivering a 19.1 percent year-to-date gain on top of its generous 4.1 percent dividend. However, after hitting a new 15-year high of $56.38 at the beginning of the month, Verizon has drifted mostly sideways in recent weeks, while the S&P 500 went on to hit new highs.

Related Link: Apple Is Right Back Where It Was 3 Months Ago

On Wednesday, the stock briefly dipped as low as $54.44 before quickly rebounding to slightly above $55. Verizon has spent most of July in a narrow trading range between $55 and $56. Wednesday’s dip could be a sign that there are buyers below this range, but any attempts to break out to new highs have been met with selling pressure as well.

Traders should watch for high-volume breakouts above $56 or below $55 for an indication where the stock is headed in coming weeks.

This year has been kind to the stocks of all of the “big four” wireless providers. T-Mobile US Inc TMUS is up 16.7 percent, AT&T Inc. T is up 23.6 percent and Sprint Corp S is up an impressive 61.3 percent.

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Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.