Telecom Stocks Extend Losses After WSJ Toxic Lead Investigation -- Update
July 17 2023 - 3:16PM
Dow Jones News
By Will Feuer
Shares of AT&T, Frontier Communications, Lumen Technologies
and other telecommunications companies extended their losses on
Monday as analysts responded to an investigation by The Wall Street
Journal that revealed U.S. phone companies have left behind a
network of cables covered in toxic lead.
AT&T's stock fell 6.8% in trading, touching its lowest level
in some 30 years. Frontier shares fell 15% to $12.15 and Lumen's
stock dropped 5.4% to $1.75. Verizon Communications shares fell
7.7% and were on pace for their lowest close since 2010.
Monday's declines extend losses in the sector from last week.
AT&T, Verizon, Lumen and Frontier shed a combined $18 billion
in market cap since the WSJ's story were fist published, and that
was before Monday's declines, MoffettNathanson analysts Craig
Moffett and Nick Del Deo said earlier Monday.
"We could see what amounts to a general telecom buyer's strike
for some time," the analysts said.
AT&T and USTelecom, an industry group, have created webpages
disputing the environmental and public health impacts of the lead
cables.
"We have not seen, nor have regulators identified, evidence that
legacy lead-sheathed telecom cables are a leading cause of lead
exposure or the cause of a public health issue. And safe work
practices within the telecommunications industry have proven
effective in reducing potential lead exposures to workers," a
USTelecom spokesperson said Monday.
Write to Will Feuer at Will.Feuer@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 17, 2023 15:01 ET (19:01 GMT)
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