Granted, Verizon (VZ) is not a fast-growth business. Ignoring acquisitions, core sales are growing by less than 1% a year. But consider the backdrop. Layoffs have reduced companies’ need for business lines. Landline customers are gradually cancelling service. And leading-edge cable television service isn’t a priority for many families at the moment, so while the company is adding FiOS subscribers, it’s not adding as many as it would in a booming economy. All this, and Verizon is eking out sales gains, even without taking short-cuts, like sacrificing margins to be able to service one of the most popular cellphones of the day, Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone. That suggests the company could grow nicely in a strong or merely stable economy. Shares trade a third cheaper than the broad market based on earnings, but for giant telecoms, dividend and free cash flow yields matter more than price/earnings ratios. Verizon has a 6% dividend yield. Its free cash flow yield is nearly 10%, and as the company winds down its fiber-optic investments in coming years, analysts reckon the free cash yield could hit 15% of today’s stock price.