(MONEY Magazine) – By mid-July, shareholders will have given AT&T the go-ahead to split into two. The company's cable assets will be combined with Comcast to create the nation's largest cable operator. The remaining telephone business--consumer long-distance and corporate telecommunications services--will keep the AT&T moniker. With stakes in two companies, AT&T shareholders should consider this: Sell the cable unit and use the proceeds to buy the unloved telephone business.

While the cable division will do well with Comcast, the telephone side has more potential. As it stands, the telephone unit, with an expected $38 billion in sales and $10 billion in cash flow, is valued at $10 billion, or $2.85 a share.

After the split, AT&T will have one of the best balance sheets in the industry. Its corporate sales force, relationships with global companies and expertise in managing communication networks are invaluable assets. The consumer unit, meanwhile, is showing signs of life as it starts selling local telephone service and high-speed Internet access. "The telephone side will surprise people," says T. Rowe Price Value fund's Brian Rogers. --Pablo Galarza