Shares of Verizon (NYSE:VZ) are up 12% so far this year, handily beating the S&P 500's paltry 2% gain as the end of 2018 nears. After years of lackluster performance, multiple trends are coalescing at once to push the stock higher -- and there's reason to believe the trend could continue.

Subscribers now, real growth later

The main reason for Verizon's 2018 advance has to do with modest gains in its subscriber base. While the pace of net new additions has slowed down substantially as the national 4G network matures, growth is growth. And it has equated to more revenue for America's leading wireless provider. In the third quarter of 2018, Verizon reported 515,000 net additions to its postpaid wireless-subscriber base. That helped produce 2.8% higher revenue than a year ago.