Activist investor Elliott Management has amassed a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T and is advocating for the sale of underperforming assets. The investors claim that AT&T is more valuable than its recent share price would suggest and that it should be run more like Verizon. Connor Smith reports at Barron’s:
AT&T shares shot up after Elliott Management revealed a $3.2 billion stake in the company, as well as a plan the activist investor says could bring a 65% gain in the stock by the end of 2021.
Elliott Management’s Jesse Cohn and Marc Steinberg wrote in a letter to AT&T’s board that the company is “deeply undervalued,” saying it is inefficiently run compared with rival Verizon Communications (VZ).
“AT&T’s core telecommunications businesses are actually performing well and are well positioned for the future,” they noted. “Unfortunately, the poor results at (the much smaller) DirecTV and general concern about the Company’s ability to execute have obfuscated this otherwise-strong positioning.”
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