Financial Health of AT&T With American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) becoming incorporated in 1885, this New York-based subsidiary of the American Bell Telephone Company embarked upon a mission to provide networking as its core service (2011). Shortly after the invention of the phone, AT&T built its network from New York to various eastern seaboard cities, with its major milestone in Chicago, which marked the longest line possible with existing technology. In 1899, AT&T acquired the assets of its parent company, and it soon became known as the Bell Telephone System that primarily served long distance lines and telegraph service. It remained as a monopoly until the 1984 when an agreement was reached with the U.S. Dept of justice to dismantle the system into eight companies (AT&T, 2011). Maintaining a competitive advantage in a dynamic environment become fierce and required continuous innovation, improvement and expansion in the telecommunications industry. In spite of this changing landscape, AT&T attempts restructuring through an acquisition to capture increase profitability.

Growth...

In today's climate, AT&T strives to be a global networking leader, focused on delivering services to the residential, small businesses, and government customers. Such an expansion of services has affected it profitability in the long-term. However, it desires to increase its market share in the wireless industry to compete with Verizon. Currently, its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with "T" as its ticker symbol. As on November 25, 2011, its stock traded at $27.41. Although past performance should not be solely relied upon to predict future performance, it sure is a reasonable indicator. Additionally, talks of mergers and acquisitions create uncertainty in the market, thus affecting investor's confidence. Hence, such talks are looming as AT&T and Deutsche Telekom attempt to join forces in the wireless industry to create a formidable force.
Profitability

Although AT&T's profitability remains flat, it is stable.…