Why G Squared's Greene sees Verizon as a safe harbor stock in 2026

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 02, 2026 at 19:27  |  3:23  |  CNBC
Speakers
Victoria Greene — Chief Investment Officer, G Squared Private Wealth; CNBC Contributor

Summary

Victoria Greene, CIO of G Squared Private Wealth, discusses her 2026 strategy on CNBC's The Exchange. She favors value and high-quality cash-flow stocks amid expected midterm-year volatility, and she highlights Verizon as a safe-harbor turnaround and Merck as a cheap pipeline-driven pharma name. The conversation covers Verizon's Frontier deal, new CEO, AI cost-control opportunity, and Merck's deep pipeline, flu vaccine acquisition, and known Gardasil headwinds.

  • Greene expects value and quality cash-flow stocks to perform better in 2026.
  • She cites midterm-year volatility as a reason to favor safe-harbor, cash-generative names.
  • Verizon is highlighted as a high-yielding Dow laggard with a new CEO and Frontier cross-sell opportunity.
  • AI is discussed as a potential cost-control and customer-service lever for Verizon.
  • Merck is favored for its deep Phase 2/3 pipeline, low P/E, dividend yield, and flu-prevention acquisition.
  • Known Merck headwinds include a major cancer drug losing exclusivity in 2028 and Gardasil/HPV bad news.
Ideas
Victoria Greene Chief Investment Officer, G Squared Private Wealth; CNBC Contributor 0:29
Value and quality cash flow outperform.
Greene expects value to do a little better in 2026 and thinks a flight to quality into companies with good, strong cash flow will be a good place to be, especially with midterm years typically volatile.
Value stocks High-quality cash-flow stocks MED
Victoria Greene Chief Investment Officer, G Squared Private Wealth; CNBC Contributor 0:41
Verizon offers yield, new CEO turnaround.
Verizon is the highest-yielding Dow dog at almost 7%, and Greene thinks investors should not overlook it. She likes the Frontier combination, which adds about 29 million subscribers to cross-sell to, and sees the new CEO focusing on incremental gains, slowing churn, and showing value to customers. AI can help reduce headcount, lower costs, improve customer service, and lift gross margins, though Q4 net subscriber adds and execution remain key.
VZ HIGH
Victoria Greene Chief Investment Officer, G Squared Private Wealth; CNBC Contributor 2:24
Merck pipeline is deep and cheap.
Greene loves Merck because it has a deep pipeline with about 80 solid Phase 2 and Phase 3 assets, a 3.3% yield, and trades at only about 13 times earnings. Although a major cancer drug's exclusivity ends in 2028 and HPV/Gardasil bad news is known, she sees the forward pipeline across oncology, ophthalmology, and animal health as phenomenal. A recent acquisition in flu prevention targets a differentiated long-life shot covering A and B strains and a $6-$8 billion annual market.
MRK HIGH
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This CNBC video, published January 02, 2026, features Victoria Greene discussing Value stocks, High-quality cash-flow stocks, VZ, MRK. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Victoria Greene  · Tickers: Value stocks, High-quality cash-flow stocks, VZ, MRK