BCE INC. $54.15 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 841.9 million; Market cap: $45.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also offers satellite and Internet TV across the country.
In the three months ended March 31, 2015, BCE’s earnings per share rose 3.7%, to $0.84 from $0.81 a year earlier. Revenue increased 2.8%, to $5.2 billion from $5.1 billion.
Revenue from wireless services (30% of the total) rose 9.7% as the company’s network upgrades continue to attract new subscribers. It’s also gaining from rising use of smartphones, for which it charges higher service fees than regular cellphones.
The wireline division (56% of total revenue), saw its sales rise 0.3% on strong growth from BCE’s Fibe TV service. There are now over one million Fibe TV subscribers, more than double the 479,430 BCE had at the start of 2014. It also has 1.7 million satellite TV users.
The stock trades at 16.3 times BCE’s forecast 2015 earnings of $3.33 a share. The $2.60 dividend yields a high 4.8%.
BCE is still a safety-conscious buy.
