bce

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX FUND $16.65 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) is a good, low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSX. The units are made up of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index, which consists of the 60 largest, most heavily traded stocks on the exchange. Expenses are just 0.17% of assets.

The index mostly consists of high-quality companies. However, as the fund must ensure that all sectors are represented, it holds a few stocks we wouldn’t include.

The index’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 7.2%; TD Bank, 7.0%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.9%; Barrick Gold, 4.4%; Suncor Energy, 4.3%; CN Railway, 3.7%; Bank of Montreal, 3.5%; Potash Corp., 3.4%; Goldcorp, 3.3%; BCE Inc., 3.2%; Canadian Natural Resources, 3.2%; Enbridge, 3.1%; TransCanada Corp., 3.0%; CIBC, 2.8%; Cenovus Energy, 2.3%; and Telus Corp., 1.9%.

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BCE INC. $42 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 775.9 million; Market cap: $32.6 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) has 5.4 million telephone customers in Ontario and Quebec, as well as 2.1 million high-speed Internet subscribers and 2.2 million TV clients. In addition, the company’s wireless business now has 7.7 million subscribers across Canada. BCE also owns 45% of Bell Aliant (see box this page).

In the three months ended June 30, 2013, the company’s earnings fell 20.5%, to $594 million, or $0.77 a share. A year earlier, it earned $747 million, or $0.97. The drop is mainly due to non-cash losses on hedges the company uses to cut the risk of its employee stock option plans.

Revenue rose 1.5%, to $5.0 billion from $4.9 billion. Revenue from its wireline division (traditional telephone, Internet and TV; 48% of total revenue) fell 0.9%. That’s partly because more of its customers are switching to wireless service. Revenue at BCE’s wireless division (28% of revenue) rose 5.4%, thanks to strong demand for smartphones and rising mobile data use.
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BCE INC. $42 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 773.6 million; Market cap: $32.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is joining a consortium of investors, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, to buy privately held Q9 Networks Inc., which provides data-storage and web-hosting services to businesses across Canada. Q9 has 11 data centres in Ontario, Alberta and B.C.

This investment will help BCE take advantage of growing demand from business clients for reliable cloud-computing services. BCE already operates six data centres. It will open a seventh later this year.

BCE will pay $180 million for a 30% stake in Q9 when the deal closes, probably by the end of 2012. The purchase price is equal to 31% of the $580 million, or $0.75 a share, that BCE earned in the three months ended March 31, 2012.

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BCE INC. $42 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 773.6 million; Market cap: $32.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is joining a consortium of investors, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, to buy privately held Q9 Networks Inc., which provides data-storage and web-hosting services to businesses across Canada. Q9 has 11 data centres in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. This investment will help BCE take advantage of growing demand from business clients for reliable cloud-computing services. BCE already operates six data centres. It will open a seventh later this year. BCE will pay $180 million for a 30% stake in Q9 when the deal closes, probably by the end of 2012. The purchase price is equal to 31% of the $580 million, or $0.75 a share, that BCE earned in the three months ended March 31, 2012....

Most stock markets are down lately due to investor worries about a potential eurozone breakup, sluggish U.S. growth and a slowdown in China. Still, the long-term outlook is positive. One way to profit from a rebound is to add exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track major stock market indexes to your portfolio. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You must pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs, but their low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

BCE INC. $41.54 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 773.6 million; Market cap: $32.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.2%; www.bce.ca) is teaming up with a group of other investors, including the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, to buy privately held Q9 networks Inc. Toronto-based Q9 provides data-storage and web-hosting services to businesses across Canada. It has 11 data centres in Ontario, Alberta and B.C. This investment will help BCE take advantage of growing demand from business clients for reliable cloud-computing services (the general term for shifting software and data off of users’ machines and onto service providers’ machines via the Internet). The company already operates six data centres. It will open a seventh later this year....

BELL ALIANT INC. $27.50 (Toronto symbol BA; Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 6.9%; www.aliant.ca) sells telephone and Internet services to 2.8 million customers in Atlantic Canada, as well as rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. The company also sells wireless services through an alliance with BCE, which owns 43.8% of Bell Aliant.

The company faces strong competition from cable providers. In addition, many of its phone customers are switching to wireless devices. However, Bell Aliant’s wireless agreement with BCE plus upgrades to its high-speed Internet network, are helping it hold on to clients and attract new ones.

Bell Aliant’s high-speed fibre optic systems now reach 458,000 homes. The company plans to expand this to 650,000 homes by the end of 2012.

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BCE INC. $40.21 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 775.6 million; Market cap: $31.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.4%; www.bce.ca) is buying Astral Media Inc. (Toronto symbols ACM.A and ACM.B). The move follows BCE’s recent $533 million purchase of 37.5% of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

Montreal-based Astral owns 22 TV stations, 84 radio stations and several pay TV and specialty channels, such as The Movie Network, Family Channel and Teletoon. It also owns billboards and sells other outdoor advertising services in Quebec, Ontario and B.C.

The purchase price is $3.4 billion, including $380 million of Astral’s debt. BCE will pay roughly 75% of this cost in cash and 25% in common shares. To put this purchase in context, BCE earned $2.4 billion, or $3.13 a share, in 2011.

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Last week in this space, I said that if you want to add value to your investing, one of the least productive things to do is to try to “time” the market. By that, I meant attempting to sell good stocks at what looks to you like a price peak, in hopes of buying them back at lower prices. Investors do sometimes sell an IBM or a BCE or a CP or an Apple at a peak in the market, then buy it back 20% cheaper. But a neat outcome like that is extremely rare. It’s more common for something to go wrong with a market-timing plan. The stock may keep rising and not drop at all—or it may only begin dropping after you’ve bought it back at a higher price. Or, it may drop just 5% or 10%, then quickly turn around and rise 50% or 100%. It may never get back into your buyback range, in other words. Or, the replacement stock you buy may drop even more than the one you sold....

BCE INC. $40.21 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 775.6 million; Market cap: $31.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.4%; www.bce.ca) is buying Astral Media Inc. (Toronto symbols ACM.A and ACM.B). The move follows BCE’s recent $533 million purchase of 37.5% of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Montreal-based Astral owns 22 TV stations, 84 radio stations and several pay TV and specialty channels, such as The Movie Network, Family Channel and Teletoon. It also owns billboards and sells other outdoor advertising services in Quebec, Ontario and B.C. The purchase price is $3.4 billion, including $380 million of Astral’s debt. BCE will pay roughly 75% of this cost in cash and 25% in common shares. To put this purchase in context, BCE earned $2.4 billion, or $3.13 a share, in 2011....