AT&T, Verizon to Long Feel C-Band Auction Effects: Moffett

MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett warned Friday of continuing financial pressures on AT&T and Verizon due to going big in the C-band auction (see 2103040034). This “left AT&T’s balance sheet in shambles,” he wrote investors: “Remarkably, their DirecTV ‘sale’ makes their leverage worse, not better. And Verizon’s leverage is now even higher than AT&T’s.” The auction “will be felt for years,” he said: “Carriers will be forced to make hard choices between dividends, diversification strategies, and capital investments in the very 5G network that the auction was intended to support.”