Yahoo Finance CenturyLink (CTL) and NetApp Team Up on Storage Program
CenturyLink Inc. CTL, a leading regional wireline service provider in the U.S., has teamed up with a multinational storage and data management company NetApp, Inc. NTAP. Specifically, CenturyLink has joined NetApp Unified Partner Program to re-sell storage solutions designed by the latter for enterprises and small-to-midsized businesses (SMBs) in multiple market segments including the public sector.
This agreement will enable CenturyLink to add a range of NetApp hardware and licensing solutions and the newly designed NetApp Flex Pod on its global network, to more customers and partners. This way, it can further enhance its strategic alliance with NetApp and add on to its portfolio of managed storage offerings. This union would also help CenturyLink to draw leverage from new opportunities for delivering value-added services, data center solutions and customer support needed to thrive amid digital transformation.
NetApp and CenturyLink have together worked for several years, and NetApp is a key storage platform in connection with CenturyLink Cloud, designed for both public and private clouds.
Recent Events
Recently, CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications Inc. LVLT moved a step closer to completing their proposed merger amid overwhelming approval of shareholders of both sides. About 96.3% of CenturyLink shareholders and more than 81.2% of Level 3 Communications’ shareholders have approved the deal. The merger is anticipated to be closed in the third quarter of 2017, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
However, Frontier Communications Corporation FTR and Windstream Holdings, Inc. WIN have raised questions to the U.S. telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding this merger proposal.
Price Performance of CenturyLink
In the last six months, the stock price of CenturyLink declined 14.81%, underperforming the Zacks categorized U.S National Wireless industry’s growth of 2.75%.
The company is currently going through a difficult phase. Management provided a tepid outlook for 2017. This can be largely attributed to persistent pressure on wholesale revenues along with high employee and benefit costs due to severe competitive pressure from larger players. We believe these are the primary reasons behind the stock’s Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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NetApp, Inc. (NTAP): Free Stock Analysis Report
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (LVLT): Free Stock Analysis Report
CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL): Free Stock Analysis Report
Windstream Holdings, Inc. (WIN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Frontier Communications Corporation (FTR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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