The cries of 'Who is next?' will clearly go up after this deal, but we tend to think that this (AT&T-BellSouth) was one of the most logical of the remaining unions.

The quarter is likely to see a mix of positive and negative surprises, reflecting the impacts of mergers and competitive pressures respectively.

At current prices, the stock only offers 3.7% upside to our $69 target price. We believe the risk reward is more balanced at current levels.