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Here's Why America Movil (AMX) Stock is a Solid Bet Now

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America Movil’s (AMX - Free Report) investors may consider adding this stock to their portfolio to tackle the current macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties and benefit from its solid fundamentals and growth prospects.

Let’s look at the factors that make the stock an attractive pick:

Shares Outperformed: Wall Street is facing extreme volatility due to macroeconomic factors such as rising inflation and interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, increased crude oil prices and lingering supply-chain woes.

The above-mentioned factors are taking a toll on major U.S. indices. Year to date, the S&P 500 has declined 16.9%. In such a scenario, stocks such as AMX can be a sound addition to one’s investment portfolio.

The stock is down 11.9% from its 52-week high level of $22.65 on May 27, 2022, making it relatively affordable for investors. The company’s shares are up 14.9% over a year against the 12.3% decline recorded by the Zacks sub-industry.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Solid Rank: AMX currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Also, the company has an impressive VGM Score of A. This style score condenses all the essential metrics from a company’s financial statements to get a true sense of the quality and sustainability of its growth.

Northward Estimate Revisions: The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.27 per share for 2022 earnings has increased 2.4% in the past 60 days. For 2023, the consensus mark for earnings is pegged at $1.53, up 18.6% over the past 60 days.

The company reported net income per ADR of 28 cents for third-quarter 2022, up from 24 cents reported in the prior-year quarter. The net income in the quarter was Mex$17,969 million or Mex$0.28 per share compared with Mex$15,811 million or Mex$0.24 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Revenues increased 3.3% to Mex$214,466 million owing to strong demand for broadband services.

Strong Fundamental Drivers

America Movil provides integrated telecommunications services in Latin America. It offers enhanced communications solutions in 25 countries in Latin America, the United States and Central and Eastern Europe.

The company is expected to benefit from increasing broadband client base and wireless subscriber additions, especially in Brazil, Austria, Colombia and Peru. In the last quarter, it gained 2.9 million wireless subscribers, which included 1.9 million post-paid subscribers.

The company aims to grow in other parts of the world by continuing to expand its subscriber base through the development of existing businesses and strategic acquisitions.

The company’s acquisition of Brazil’s Oi and Nextel Brazil from NII Holdings has helped the company to significantly improve its market shares in Brazil. In the last-reported quarter, the company added 958,000 post-paid subscribers from Brazil.

Also, the company announced a collaboration with Liberty Latin America Ltd., to merge their respective Chilean business operations — Claro Chile and VTR — in a 50:50 joint venture (JV). The JV will assist the company in expanding its fixed fiber footprint and generating revenues via cross-selling opportunities.

Apart from that, the sale of the cellular towers located in the Dominican Republic and Peru to Sitios Latinoamerica will help the company increase shareholder value and lower debt. In the last-reported quarter, the company’s comprehensive financing cost decreased 34.2% to Mex$16,469 million.

Few Headwinds

Apart from its solid fundamentals, the company is prone to several risks. The company operates in a highly competitive and capital-intensive telecom industry. This is likely to negatively impact the company’s performance.

AMX also has a highly leveraged balance sheet, which means it is under pressure to meet debt obligations. As of Sep 30, 2022, America Movil had Mex$112,845 million in cash, marketable securities and other short-term investments with Mex$380,430 million of long-term debt.

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are Arista Networks (ANET - Free Report) , Pure Storage (PSTG - Free Report) and Jabil (JBL - Free Report) . Jabil and Arista Networks currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), whereas Pure Storage currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Arista Networks 2022 earnings is pegged at $4.35 per share, up 7.7% in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 17.5%.

Arista Networks earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, the average being 12.7%. Shares of ANET have decreased 1% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PSTG 2022 earnings is pegged at $1.18 per share, unchanged in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 35.5%.

Pure Storage’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters, the average being 171.8%. Shares of PSTG have increased 10% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Jabil’s fiscal 2023 earnings is pegged at $8.18 per share, rising 3.8 in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is anticipated to be 12%.

Jabil’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters, the average being 9.3%. Shares of JBL have increased 4% in the past year.

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