Big telcos touted as safe investment bet

AT&T and Verizon Communication vs. gold: That's what your choices may boil down to if you are looking for a safe haven in the current catastrophic market. While gold jumped above $1,000 an ounce recently, you can get AT&T or Verizon stock for a lot less. But, with both telcos' stock prices down along with everyone else's, it may be more of a long-term bet. Still, Goldman Sachs analyst Jason Armstrong last week upgraded the stock of both telcos to "buy," saying both companies are well poised for 2010.

AT&T and Verizon both had decent fourth-quarter earnings reports, especially in the key future growth areas of wireless, broadband and TV service.

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AT&T's profit slid about 23 percent in Q4
Verizon's Q4 profit was up 15 percent