BCE INC. $49 - Toronto symbol BCE

p>BCE INC. $49 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 777.3 million; Market cap: $38.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 5.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone services, with 5.1 million customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 2.2 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.3 million TV subscribers. Together, these services supply 47% of the company’s revenue. BCE also sells wireless services across Canada. Its 7.8 million mobile subscribers provide 28% of its revenue.

A further 13% of revenue comes from its Bell Media division, which owns CTV Television, specialty channels and radio stations. It gets the remaining 12% from its 44% stake in Bell Aliant.

BCE recently spent $566 million on new blocks of wireless spectrum. This will let it offer high-speed wireless services in more parts of Canada.

Thanks to steady demand for wireless and its Fibe TV service, BCE’s earnings rose 8.7% in the first quarter of 2014, to $615 million, or $0.79 a share. A year earlier, it earned $566 million, or $0.73. Without unusual items, per-share earnings rose 5.2%, to $0.81 from $0.77. Revenue gained 3.7%, to $5.1 billion from $4.9 billion.

The company expects to earn $3.15 a share in 2014, up 5.4% from $2.99 in 2013. The stock trades at a moderate 15.6 times that forecast. The $2.47 dividend yields 5.0%.

BCE is a buy.

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