Verizon Communications Inc ( VZ ) shares are trading lower Tuesday after the company laid out expectations for a soft first quarter at a Deutsche Bank conference.

What Happened: Speaking at a Deutsche Bank conference on Tuesday, a Verizon executive said first-quarter growth will be “probably soft,” according to Benzinga Pro.

CNBC reported Tuesday morning that the Verizon executive also noted that Verizon has seen elevated levels of competitive intensity in the quarter.

In a regulatory filing, Verizon said it expects Verizon Consumer Group postpaid phone net additions for the first quarter to be affected by three to five basis points of churn. The company attributed the softness to recent pricing actions, as well as postpaid phone gross additions that were “flat to slightly down” from the prior year’s period.

Verizon said it remains confident in its full-year 2025 guidance. The company noted that it expects to generate more Consumer postpaid phone net additions in 2025 than it did in 2024.

Verizon isn’t due to report quarterly earnings until sometime next month. Analysts currently expect the company to report earnings of $1.15 per share and revenue of $33.47 billion, according to estimates from Benzinga Pro.

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How To Buy VZ Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Verizon – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy “fractional shares,” which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to “go short” a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

VZ Price Action: Verizon shares were down 6.61% at $43.42 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro.