Verizon, Huawei Resolve Patent Dispute

U.S. telecom operator Verizon (VZ) and Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei have resolved their disagreement over patents. They didn’t disclose the terms of the settlement, but the deal ends the patent-infringement litigation between the companies. (See Verizon stock charts on TipRanks).

“Verizon is happy with the settlement reached with Huawei involving patent lawsuits. While terms of the settlement are not being disclosed, our team did an outstanding job bringing this protracted matter to a close. Our company continues to focus on what truly matters: providing millions of consumers and businesses with outstanding technology built on America’s most reliable networks,” said Verizon spokesperson Rich Young.

Huawei sued Verizon, accusing the telecom operator of using its patented technology without paying for it, according to a Bloomberg report. Huawei filed two lawsuits against Verizon. The telecom behemoth denied infringing on Huawei patents and was prepared to defend itself in court.

A trial had just begun into one of Huawei’s lawsuits against Verizon, but the companies agreed to resolve their differences before the case could play out fully in court.

Last week, Tigress Financial analyst Ivan Feinseth reiterated a Buy rating on Verizon stock and assigned it a price target of $67. Feinseth’s price target suggests 19.32% upside potential.

The analyst sees Verizon’s share price benefiting from the growing opportunities in wireless and broadband. Additionally, Feinseth observes that Verizon continues to benefit from what he describes as “transformative” 5G network rollout.

Consensus among analysts is a Hold based on 2 Buys, 8 Holds, and 1 Sell. The average Verizon price target of $60.11 implies 7.05% upside potential to current levels.

According to TipRanks’ Hedge Fund Trading Activity tool, confidence in VZ is currently Very Positive. The cumulative change in holdings across all 24 funds that were active in the last quarter was an increase of 17.7 million shares.