Patent Plays'  Instablog

I've been watching this Telco for a very long time. Studying its mergers monitoring its growth plans. My best conclusion here is best expressed by the analogy of a developing nation fighting wars with Superpowers on multiple fronts, eventually they will lose. Windstreams growth is not in copper and not residential. Its in Business Enterprise. There the company is under assault by literally everyone. The companies they acquired, PAETEC, NUVOX and USLEC all operated under the mindset that being cheaper than the ILEC, i.e.. ATT (T), Verizon (VZ) Centurylink (CTL) will win you business. Now that the ILECS have decided enough marketshare has been lost Windstream is no longer priced to win. In fact they are higher in some markets than the ILEC. Furthermore the Cable Operators have gotten heavy into the game and are basically offering similar services at a margin that Windstream can not successfully operate in. As more business migrates to these companies Windstreams balance sheet will suffer and undoubtedly so will the dividend. Decrease your holdings here and don't get caught in a dividend adjustment as there will be no future top line improvement to bail you out.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.