Verizon Communications vs. Coca-Cola

 Both generally considered stable dividend stocks. However, Verizon's stock held up better throughout the COVID-19 crisis, slipping just 4% since the beginning of the year as Coca-Cola's stock tumbled about 13%. Let's see why the telecom giant outperformed the beverage maker, and whether or not the trend will continue over the next year.

Verizon faces near-term headwinds

Verizon's core wireless business, which generates most of its revenue, struggled with sluggish sales of smartphones and fierce competition from rival carriers last year. That's why its revenue grew just 1% in fiscal 2019, and its adjusted EPS rose just 2%.

Verizon faced similar challenges in the first half of 2020, but the how much does a computer engineer make crisis exacerbated that pain by shutting down retailers and throttling the growth of its smaller Verizon Media advertising business, which mainly houses the remnants of AOL and Yahoo's internet assets.

As a result, Verizon's revenue fell 3% year-over-year in the first half of 2020, while its adjusted earnings remained unchanged. Verizon didn't provide any revenue guidance for the full year, but it expects its adjusted EPS to stay flat. Analysts expect its revenue and earnings to decline 3% and 1%, respectively.