TacticScaleWhat Verizon Communications Does & How It Makes Money (VZ)
Updated October 2026 · reflects Verizon Communications's latest reported financials
Major US wireless carrier and broadband provider. Verizon earns recurring subscription fees from consumers and businesses for wireless, broadband and networking services.
How Verizon Communications makes money
Verizon earns recurring subscription fees from consumers and businesses for wireless, broadband and networking services. It also makes money selling devices such as smartphones, and from wholesale access to its networks.
What Verizon Communications does
Verizon Communications is one of the largest US telecom companies. It reports two segments: Consumer and Business. The Consumer segment sells wireless service under the Verizon and TracFone brands, along with smartphones and other connected devices. It also sells home broadband through fixed wireless access and through wireline service, which uses the Fios fiber network and an older copper network in the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast and Washington D.C. The Business segment serves companies, government agencies and other carriers in the US and abroad. It provides wireless and wireline connectivity, corporate networking, security and managed network services, voice, network access and IoT. Verizon sells through its own stores, digital channels, agents, resellers and national retailers. Formerly Bell Atlantic, the company took the Verizon name in 2000 and is headquartered in New York.
Products & services
- Verizon Wireless
- TracFone
- Verizon Fios
- Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) broadband
- Business networking & security services
- IoT solutions
What is Verizon Communications worth?
On an owner-earnings DCF, Verizon Communications's most-likely value is about $45 versus a recent price near $42 (8% below fair value). But TacticScale only calls a stock undervalued when the price sits below its conservative no-growth floor (~$36) with a margin of safety — so the honest verdict here is “Fairly priced — no edge.” Fair value earns its keep only at the extremes, not in the wide middle.
Price sits in the normal range — fair value isn't actionable here; it earns its keep only when price drops below the no-growth floor, or runs to roughly double the optimistic case.
⚠ High leverage — net debt is 9.4× annual cash flow. Net debt is subtracted from this fair value, but refinancing at higher rates, principal timing, and share dilution aren’t modeled — the equity can be worth far less if cash flow weakens.
Analysis, not advice. Fair value is a margin-of-safety estimate from a deterministic owner-earnings DCF, not a price target or recommendation. See the full breakdown →
Related companies
AT&T (T) · T-Mobile US (TMUS) · Charter Communications (CHTR)