AT&T (NYSE: T) was once considered a stable blue-chip stock for income investors. But over the past five years, the telecom and media giant lost about 40% of its market value, and its stock now languishes near a 12-year low.
AT&T's decline can be traced back to three big mistakes. First, it bought DirecTV for $49 billion in 2015 in an ill-fated attempt to expand its pay-TV business. Second, it acquired Time Warner for $85 billion in 2018 in an eleventh-hour attempt to build a streaming media ecosystem. It bit off far more than it could chew in both deals, and its long-term debt skyrocketed.
Image source: AT&T.
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Is AT&T Stock a Buy Now?