I'll readily admit that I am not a financial wizard. I am risk adverse and think that playing the stock market is like a casino (the deck is stacked against you). Then I read The Big Short by Michael Lewis and I was amazed that most of the Players on The Street don't know more than me, except they know when the rats are bailing a ship, so they can too.
That being said, I wonder how we have developed such an over leveraged Industry. Cable companies owe more than $100B and still have to upgrade to DOCSIS 3.0 while building out wireless.
Meanwhile Ma & Pa Bell owe almost $100B combined! WTH?
In AT&T's investor briefing, "At the end of the [2Q2010], AT&T's long-term debt was $60.3 billion, total debt was $70.0 billion and cash equivalents totaled $1.4 billion. Over the past 12 months, AT&T has reduced total debt by $6.7 billion."
"Verizon's net debt (non-GAAP; total debt less end-of-period cash and cash equivalents) was $52.7 billion at the end of second-quarter 2010," according to VZ.
The ratings agency is even worried.
How do you pay back $120B in debt in a hyper-competitive marketplace as you cut DSL pricing to the bone, start pitching Naked DSL, and are losing the triple-play battle to Cableco?
Also, Cisco was the warning bell that a lackluster economy is coming, so 2013 should be an interesting year for debts and the bankruptcy courts.
