Harvey Jones dials up Vodafone (LSE: VOD).
It's time to go shopping for shares again, but where to start? Rain-soaked retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF)? Recovering bank Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS)? Or financial services flyer Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL)?
There are plenty of great stocks to choose from, and I'm enjoying doing some window shopping. So here's the question I'm asking right now. Should I buy Vodafone (LSE: VOD) (NASDAQ: VOD.US).?
I own Vodafone
I remember the days my mobile phone companies were zippy new growth motors, and investors piled in hoping to ring up fast returns. Somewhere along the way, they morphed into plodding utility stocks, and that's what Vodafone looks like now. I bought a belated stake back in August 2009, and ever since, it's been quietly humming away in my portfolio.
I barely give it a second glance, except when the dividend pops into my share account every six months. In these troubled times, that looks like the ultimate virtue. Should I buy more?
Wrong numbers
Vodafone's share price famously hit a high of around £4 at the height of the dotcom boom. More than 12 years later, it trades at just £1.76. Clearly, its solid reputation is a recent thing. But it's not that solid. The stock has fallen nearly 8% since mid-August, and I'm not the only investor to sense a buying opportunity.
Vodafone has been hit by the lengthy tax dispute over its $10.7 billion purchase of Hutchison Whampoa's Indian unit in 2007. This was structured as an offshore transaction, and now the Indian government wants its share, even rewriting tax laws to allow it tax any cross-border details done since 1962.
That's crazy, but potentially costly. Vodafone has set aside around £1.4 billion, just in case.
I'll put you on hold
Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ.US), in which Vodafone holds a 45% stake, is another worry. Vodafone investors were hoping for news of another dividend from the joint US mobile phone venture in September, but it wasn't even discussed. This led some analysts to question whether Vodafone's policy of handing all its free cash flow to shareholders would remain affordable.
Although mobile phones strong defensive characteristics, they aren't immune to the eurozone crisis. In the three months to 30 June, Vodafone posted group-wide service revenues of £9.9 billion, a rise of just 0.6% over the year, after European sales slowed.
It has also been criticised for making slow progress on cutting its operating costs and striking network sharing deals. When analysts at Bernstein put Vodafone on hold, after calling it a buy for more than three years, the share price rout was complete.
Game, handset and match
Actually, it wasn't much of a rout. I wish Vodafone's share price had fallen more than 8%, which would make it a buying opportunity no-brainer. As it is, I think it's a buy anyway. With a current dividend yield of 5.4%, and a forecast yield of 7.3%, where else would you put your money right now? Cash?
Trading on a forecast P/E of 11.1, it doesn't look too expensive, either. Vodafone has had its problems but, ultimately, it still rings the right numbers.
One life, one stock
If Vodafone doesn't ring your bell, there are plenty of other great opportunities out there, including the one UK share that Warren Buffett loves.
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Further Motley Fool investment opportunities:
> Harvey owns shares in RBS and Vodafone. He doesn't own shares in any other company mentioned in this article. The Motley Fool owns shares in Hargreaves Lansdown.
