BCE is a top buy

Article Excerpt

BCE INC. $36.21 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 755.6 million; Market cap: $27.4 billion; TSI Network Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.1%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest and most diversified provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. BCE’s main telephone subsidiary, Bell Canada, has 6.8 million customers in Ontario and Quebec. The company also owns 44.1% of Bell Aliant (Toronto symbol BA) which has over 3.1 million telephone customers in Atlantic Canada and rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. BCE sells wireless services to 6.9 million subscribers across Canada. As well, it has 2.1 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.0 million ExpressVu satellite-TV subscribers. BCE earned $0.82 a share in the three months ended September 30, 2010. That’s down 2.4% from $0.84 a year earlier. Its tax bill was lower in the year-earlier period. The company recently bought full control of CTVglobemedia, which owns the 27-station CTV Television Network, for $1.3 billion. CTVglobemedia also owns 30 specialty TV channels, 34 radio stations and 15% of…