10 Best Low Priced Stocks to Invest in Now

2) Lumen Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LUMN)

Stock Price as of February 22: $4.66

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 44

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LUMN) is a facilities-based technology and communications company, that provides integrated products and services to business and residential customers. Wells Fargo analyst Eric Luebchow upped the company’s stock to “Equal-weight” from “Underweight” with an unchanged price objective of $5. As per the firm, the potential for FCF accretive and deleveraging sale of Quantum Fiber bolsters the near-term outlook for Lumen Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LUMN). Furthermore, the future private connectivity fabric might boost its FCF while the Quantum Fiber sale can act as an upside catalyst.

Moving forward, the company remains focused on driving operational excellence, disrupting the industry through cloudifying telecom, and providing connectivity to hyperscalers and enterprises as demand for data grows amidst the AI wave. For FY 2025, Lumen Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LUMN) expects adjusted EBITDA to come in the range of $3.2 billion – $3.4 billion and FCF between $700 million – $900 million. The company remains focused on continuing its transformation efforts, emphasizing operational excellence and industry disruption via telecom cloudification.

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“Stock selection in the communication services sector was a significant detractor during the period, largely due to not owning Lumen Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:LUMN), which provides products and services including dark fiber, edge cloud services and internet protocol, among others. The company, which began the quarter with a $1.1 billion market cap, skyrocketed after it signed agreements with Microsoft and Corning to use its network and technologies to support their AI data center buildouts, resulting in a nearly 350% return and ending the quarter with a $7.2 billion market cap. However, despite this meteoric rise, we believe that the company remains a highly risky asset with a significantly leveraged balance sheet, and one not suitable for our focus on high-quality, long-term compounders.”