In 2023, you could have done worse than investing in Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) stock -- but not much worse. The company was a notable laggard on the heavy-hitter lineup that is the large-cap S 500 index, plummeting by nearly 65% over the course of the year. Meanwhile, the index it's a part of zoomed more than 24% higher. The S 500 stocks did well, then, despite being burdened by Lumen.

Following that long-tail rout, Lumen has kicked off 2024 by trading well under $2 per share. Perhaps that makes it quite the bargain for discount-minded investors. Let's explore.

Lumen is a company in the middle of a long transition. Years ago, when it was known as CenturyLink, it devised a somewhat counterintuitive strategy to concentrate on legacy landline telecom operations. That was in sharp contrast to industry incumbents AT (NYSE: T) and (NYSE: VZ), which pushed hard into mobile telephony.

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Source Fool.com