Verizon (VZ -6.58%) stock lost ground in Tuesday's trading. The telecom giant's share price ended the daily session down 6.6%, and had been off as much as 8.4% earlier in trading.

Verizon stock moved lower today following cautious guidance from the company. Management expects that subscriber growth will be pressured in the near term, and investors sold shares in response.

Verizon stock sinks on tough wireless outlook

Competition for new wireless subscribers continues to be intense, and Verizon says that the dynamic will likely lead to soft subscriber growth this quarter. Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom Conference, Verizon chief revenue officer Frank Boulben said that Verizon had cut back on aggressive promotional campaigns from the fourth quarter -- but other players in the space had continued to aggressively pursue subscriber additions.

Even through today's pullback, Verizon stock is still up 8% across 2025's trading.

What's next for Verizon?

Despite relatively soft phone upgrade trends and a tough competitive landscape, Verizon still expects to surpass the 900,000 net postpaid wireless subscriber additions it recorded last year. So while the company expects that growth for net wireless subscribers this quarter will be negatively impacted by a level of promotional push that's below key competitors, it's possible that the longer-term impact of this dynamic will be relatively muted.

Following today's pullback, Verizon is trading at roughly 9.3 times this year's expected earnings and sports a dividend yield of 6.2%. For long-term investors seeking reliable dividend income, today's price drop could be a worthwhile buying opportunity. The stock has solid defensive characteristics, and it's possible that the market is significantly overreacting to the company's recent comments.