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Topic: How To Invest

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $33.45 – Toronto symbol MBT

MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $33.45 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 66.7 million; Market cap: $2.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.1%; www.mts.ca) gets 55% of its revenue from its MTS division, which has over 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba.

The remaining 45% comes from its Allstream division, which sells voice and data communication services to Canadian companies.

Manitoba Tel is now conducting a strategic review of Allstream. This could lead to a sale of some or all of this business.

Allstream is now profitable, but while it accounts for almost half of Manitoba Tel’s revenue, it only contributes 19% of its operating earnings. So selling the division would let Manitoba Tel focus on investing in its more profitable operations. It would also make it an attractive takeover candidate.

Ottawa recently relaxed foreignownership limits on telecom companies with less than a 10% market share. That means a wider variety of potential buyers could be interested in Manitoba Tel, including U.S. telecommunications firms such as AT&T and Verizon.

While the chance of a takeover adds to the stock’s appeal, it’s not reason enough on its own to buy. But either way, Manitoba Tel’s prospects look bright. It trades at just 13.4 times forecast 2012 earnings of $2.49 a share, and yields 5.1%.

Manitoba Tel is a buy.

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