Is Verizon Stock Going to $51? 1 Wall Street Analyst Thinks So.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) stock took a big hit toward the end of July after the telecom giant released second-quarter results. The company's performance wasn't as good as many had hoped it would be, due in no small part to a slowdown in phone upgrading activity.

There remain plenty of believers in the stock, though, and one of them is TD Cowen's Gregory Williams. In an update on his Verizon take published recently, Williams didn't hesitate to reiterate his buy recommendation on the beaten-down telecom leader.

A bullish pundit maintains his stance

In maintaining his buy stance, Williams kept his $51 per-share price target on Verizon. At the most recent closing price as I write this, this suggests potential upside of 26%.

The analyst's new commentary came on the heels of an investor meeting TD Cowen hosted with the telecom incumbent's Chief Network Officer Lynn Cox and its head of investor relations, Brady Connor.

The comments of the two executives left several key takeaways for Williams. First, he feels that Verizon's C-band -- the bandwidth that is basically essential for true 5G transmission -- will be mostly rolled out by the end of 2025. He also believes an AI-fueled upgrade cycle is going to boost the company.

A number of pundits are convinced that phones with native AI technology, like those in development from the likes of Apple , will be highly popular with consumers and help juice the results of telecom service providers.

Still not past the quarterly earnings hangover

Verizon stock has been in the doldrums since that earnings report, and I think investors are in an unforgiving mood. Yes, the company missed on revenue, but not by a concerning amount.

Meanwhile, management could very well be underestimating a potential surge in the upgrade cycle. AI functionalities promise to vastly expand the attractiveness of phone models if well integrated, and users could flock to the exponentially more powerful models.

Eric Volkman has positions in Apple. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .