Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS) Stock

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS) is a Communication Services stock trading at $34.72 (as of 2026-08-20), with a market capitalization of $3.95B and a trailing P/E of 10.6. Figures are sourced from first-party U.S. SEC EDGAR filings and market data.

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS) provides communications services in the United States through its UScellular and TDS Telecom segments. Its offerings include wireless services and devices, connectivity and all-home Wi-Fi, television services, and other communication capabilities, along with related software and IoT-focused solutions for customers including consumers as well as business and government users.

Understand Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.: how it makes money

Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) provides wireless communications services in the United States, and it also sells connected IoT solutions and software applications for monitoring and control, business automation, fleet and asset management, smart water, private cellular networks, and related end-to-end IoT solutions.

TDS is structured around selling wireless communications services, supported by connected IoT solutions and software applications, while equipment sales are shown as 0.0 in the provided revenue breakdown candidates.

Business quality (Mixed): Clear service and IoT focus, but the provided segment revenue figures do not reconcile cleanly to the stated total revenue, which limits how precisely an investor can attribute performance to each business line.

Valuation: At 73× earnings, TDS trades 311% above the Communication average (18×). Note: one-time items can distort reported P/E.

Bull case

Service and IoT solution orientation: The company offers wireless solutions to consumers and business and government customers, plus a suite of connected IoT solutions and software applications for monitor and control and operations automation.
High reported operating margin in the latest quarter: For the quarter ended 2026-03-31, the company reports an operating margin of 46.5%.

Bear case

Segment attribution is hard with the provided data: The provided segment revenue candidates do not sum to the stated total revenue of 0.3B for the latest quarter, making it difficult to validate segment-level drivers.
Revenue concentration risk in wireless services: Because the model centers on wireless and related service offerings, performance may be sensitive to changes in demand or customer mix for those services (especially given equipment sales are shown as 0.0 in the breakdown candidates).

Valuation — source: SEC EDGAR (first-party)
Price	$34.72
Market Cap	$3.95B
P/E Ratio	10.6
EV / EBITDA	1.8
Price / Book	0.73
Price / Sales	1.87
FCF Yield	1.4%
DCF Value (model)	$25.36
DCF Upside vs Price	-26.9%

Profitability & Growth — source: SEC EDGAR
Revenue (TTM)	$1.23B
Net Margin	-0.5%
Revenue Growth (YoY)	-73.9%
EPS Growth (YoY)	-5000.0%
FCF Growth (YoY)	-142.9%

Financial Health — source: SEC EDGAR
Altman Z-Score	1.22 (distress)

Valuation vs Sector & Industry
Stock P/E	10.6
Sector P/E (Communication Services)	24.4
Industry P/E (Communication)	17.9
vs Sector	-56.6%
vs Industry	-40.9%

Smart-Money Activity — SEC Form 4 / 13F / Congressional disclosures
Top Institutional Holder	BlackRock, Inc. ($628.23M)
Institutional Holders Tracked	10

Company
Sector	Communication Services
Industry	Communication
CEO	Walter Carlson
Employees	7,900
Country	US
IPO Date	1981-12-15

Related Companies (Business model: Telecom Carrier; 8 closest by market cap; US-domiciled)

Data as of 2026-08-20.

Figures sourced from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC EDGAR) filings and market data. Not personalized investment advice.