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The Best Canadian Dividend Stocks to Buy: REITS Canada and other Top Canadian Dividend Stocks.

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Topic: Dividend Stocks

Canadian Income Trusts

One of our recommended Canadian income trusts is BELL ALIANT REGIONAL COMMUNICATIONS INCOME FUND $28 (Toronto symbol BA.UN; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Units outstanding: 127 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; SI Rating: Above average). Bell Aliant is the main provider of telephone services in Atlantic Canada. It also serves rural areas of Ontario and Quebec. BCE Inc. controls about 45% of Bell Aliant.

As part of the deal that created the fund in July 2006, Bell Aliant transferred most of its wireless operations to BCE. Without these operations, Bell Aliant has focused on its other growth areas, such as high-speed Internet access.

In the first quarter of 2008, a 14.6% rise in high-speed Internet subscribers helped expand Bell Aliant’s overall Internet revenue by 9.8% from a year earlier. Part of that increase was from the recent purchase of the publicly owned telephone system in Kenora, Ontario. Internet services now account for 11% of Bell Aliant’s total revenue.

Demand for Internet service should continue to rise as Bell Aliant expands its high-speed networks. Right now, only about 75% of its customers have access to high-speed service, so there’s plenty of room to grow. This expansion will also let Bell Aliant offer new services, including TV and music downloads.

Bell Aliant’s monthly distributions of $0.2417 a unit give it a current yield of 10.4%. It paid out 78.8% of its cash flow in the first quarter. Distributions could fall after Ottawa imposes new taxes on income trusts in 2011, but distributions will then qualify for the dividend tax credit.

Bell Aliant is a buy.

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