VZ
Not exactly a standing ovation
Morgan Stanley just started covering Verizon and landed on Equal Weight with a $49 price target. Translation: the bank isn’t waving pom-poms, but it’s not throwing tomatoes either. For a telecom giant that already behaves a lot like the market’s dependable uncle, that’s pretty on-brand.
The stock isn’t exactly flying solo
Verizon’s having a bit of a “good, not glamorous” moment. The company recently beat Q1 estimates with $1.09 in EPS on $36.38 billion in revenue, then followed that up with FY2026 guidance of $4.900 to $4.950 EPS. So while the new coverage note is only mildly flattering, the actual business is still doing the things investors like: printing cash, beating estimates, and not making anyone panic.
The analyst crowd is split, but not ugly
Morgan Stanley’s note lands in a broader stew of opinions:
- Evercore lifted its target to $50 and kept an Outperform rating
- JPMorgan nudged its target to $49 and stayed Neutral
- Weiss upgraded the stock to Buy
- DBS Bank went the other way and cut it to Hold
So yeah, Wall Street is basically treating Verizon like the reliable friend who always shows up on time — not thrilling, but hard to ignore.
Why you should care
This matters because a fresh initiation can help set the tone for how investors frame the stock from here. Verizon already has earnings momentum and guidance support, but with telecom, the big question is always the same: can a steady business turn into a stock that people actually get excited about?
Big picture: Verizon doesn’t need a viral moment. It just needs to keep being the adult in the room — and for now, analysts seem willing to pay for that kind of boring competence.