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Here's How Much You'd Have If You Invested $1000 in T-Mobile a Decade Ago

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For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. Not only can it impact your investment portfolio, but it can also help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in T-Mobile (TMUS - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to TMUS for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

T-Mobile's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at T-Mobile's main business drivers.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Bellevue, WA, T-Mobile US, Inc. is a national wireless service provider. The company offers its services under the T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile and Sprint brands. T-Mobile, through its subsidiaries, provides wireless services for branded postpaid and prepaid, and wholesale customers.

The company was formed after the merger of T-Mobile USA Inc. and MetroPCS Communications Inc. Deutsche Telekom AG was the owner of the former T-Mobile USA Inc. Under the terms of the business combination with MetroPCS, Deutsche Telekom received shares of common stock representing a majority ownership interest in T-Mobile in exchange for its transfer of all of T-Mobile USA’s common stock.

The company offers mobile voice, messaging and data services in the postpaid, prepaid and wholesale markets. T-Mobile is extensively deploying 5G and 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks. It also provides wireless devices, such as smartphones, tablets and other mobile communication devices and accessories manufactured by various suppliers. T-Mobile’s business largely depends on its “Un-carrier Value Proposition”, which aims to enhance customer satisfaction by means of providing latest products at cheaper rates and uncomplicated terms of conditions.

T-Mobile mainly reports under the following two segments.

Service (80.5% of total revenues in 2023): Includes wireless communication services to branded postpaid and branded prepaid customers through a variety of service plan options.

Equipment (18%): Includes sale of devices to dealers and third-party distributors for resale through independent third-party retail outlets; while the balance accounts for Other (1.5%).

T-Mobile recorded 5.7 million postpaid net customer additions and 3.1 million postpaid phone net customer additions in fiscal 2023. Moreover, the postpaid phone churn rate was at a record low level of 0.87% and high-speed Internet net customer additions totaled 2.1 million in fiscal 2023.

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in T-Mobile a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in December 2014 would be worth $8,459.75, or a gain of 745.97%, as of December 2, 2024, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 191.76% and the price of gold went up 110.66% over the same time frame.

Analysts are forecasting more upside for TMUS too.

T-Mobile is benefiting from industry-leading postpaid customer growth with a record-low churn rate. Its acquisition strategy has significantly strengthened its position in the wireless industry over the past few years. TMUS’ 2.5 GHz 5G spectrum delivers superfast speeds and extensive coverage with signals that go through walls and trees. This boosts its competitive edge against companies that provide 5G networks controlled by the mmWave spectrum. Solid growth in free cash flow is a tailwind. However, owing to the stock’s premium valuation, we believe investors should remain cautious as macroeconomic factors, market saturation, or economic downturns can significantly impact overvalued stocks like TMUS. The high debt burden is a concern. Fierce competition is straining profitability. We are reiterating our Neutral recommendation.

The stock is up 10.60% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 6 higher, for fiscal 2024. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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