Telus Corp.

Toronto symbol T.A, provides local and long distance telephone service in B.C., Alberta and parts of Quebec, and wireless service across Canada.

Telus continues to upgrade its wireless and Internet services, spending $2.2 billion on these improvements in 2014. That’s helping it attract more subscribers in a highly competitive market. As well, last year the company bought $1.1 billion worth of wireless frequencies, or spectrum, that should let it cover more of Canada, particularly smaller cities and rural areas. TELUS $43.63 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 611.0 million; Market cap: $26.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.telus.com) gets 55% of its revenue from its 8.0 million wireless subscribers across Canada. It also has 3.2 million phone customers, 1.5 million high-speed Internet users and 888,000 TV subscribers. In the three months ended September 30, 2014, Telus’s earnings per share rose 10.3%, to $0.64 from $0.58 a year earlier. Revenue increased 5.4%, to $3.03 billion from $2.87 billion....
TELUS $42.03 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 615.0 million; Market cap: $25.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.telus.com) added 113,000 wireless subscribers, net of cancellations, in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 8.7% from a year earlier. It now has 8.0 million wireless users and continues to attract high-speed Internet and digital TV subscribers, as well.

As a result, Telus’s revenue rose 5.4%, to $3.0 billion from $2.9 billion. Earnings gained 6.0%, to $387 million from $365 million.

Telus spent $164 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter, so its per-share earnings rose 10.3%, to $0.64 from $0.58.

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TELUS $42.03 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 615.0 million; Market cap: $25.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.telus.com) added 113,000 wireless subscribers, net of cancellations, in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 8.7% from a year earlier. It now has 8.0 million wireless users and continues to attract high-speed Internet and digital TV subscribers, as well. As a result, Telus’s revenue rose 5.4%, to $3.0 billion from $2.9 billion. Earnings gained 6.0%, to $387 million from $365 million. Telus spent $164 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter, so its per-share earnings rose 10.3%, to $0.64 from $0.58....
TELUS CORP. $42 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 612.0 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) added 113,000 new wireless subscribers, net of cancellations, in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 8.7% from a year earlier. It now has 8.0 million wireless subscribers. In addition, it continues to attract high-speed Internet and digital TV users.

As a result, its revenue rose 5.4%, to $3.0 billion from $2.9 billion. Earnings gained 6.0%, to $387 million from $365 million. Telus spent $164 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter, so its per-share earnings rose 10.3%, to $0.64 from $0.58.

The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 11.1%, to $0.40 a share from $0.36. The new annual rate of $1.60 yields 3.8%. This was the eighth hike since May 2011.

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TELUS CORP. $42 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 612.0 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) added 113,000 new wireless subscribers, net of cancellations, in the three months ended September 30, 2014, up 8.7% from a year earlier. It now has 8.0 million wireless subscribers. In addition, it continues to attract high-speed Internet and digital TV users. As a result, its revenue rose 5.4%, to $3.0 billion from $2.9 billion. Earnings gained 6.0%, to $387 million from $365 million. Telus spent $164 million on share buybacks in the latest quarter, so its per-share earnings rose 10.3%, to $0.64 from $0.58. The company also raised its quarterly dividend by 11.1%, to $0.40 a share from $0.36. The new annual rate of $1.60 yields 3.8%. This was the eighth hike since May 2011....
QHR Corp., $1.15, symbol QHR on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 48.7 million; Market cap: $56.0 billion; www.qhrtechnologies.com), sells software and services for the health care sector. It operates through two main divisions:

  • Electronic medical records (EMR): Under the Accuro brand, QHR makes software that manages electronic patient files for doctors, surgeons and other medical professionals. The company’s software also handles administrative functions like billing and patient scheduling. In addition, this division provides on- and off-site data storage.
  • Revenue cycle management (RCM): Under its SoftCare brand, QHR helps health care providers exchange claim information for reimbursement.
SoftCare provides a medical billing service and other software that aims to help clients navigate and simplify health plan enrolment and health insurance eligibility, as well as manage health insurance claims through to payment. QHR mainly markets SoftCare in the U.S.

QHR narrowed its focus when it sold its enterprise management solutions business for $20 million in December 2013. This unit specialized in workforce management software, which consisted of payroll, staff scheduling and human resource programs.

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We still think investors will profit most—and with the least risk—by buying shares of well-established, dividend-paying stocks with strong business prospects.

These are companies that have strong positions in healthy industries. They also have strong management that will make the right moves to remain competitive in a changing marketplace.

Stocks like these give investors an additional measure of safety in today’s volatile markets. And the best ones offer an attractive combination of moderate p/e’s (the ratio of a stock’s price to its per-share earnings), steady or rising dividend yields (annual dividend divided by the share price) and promising growth prospects.

Here are 20 stocks we think meet those criteria:

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TELUS CORP. $39 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 615.5 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest wireless carrier, after Rogers Communications, with 7.9 million subscribers. Wireless now supplies 54% of Telus’s revenue and 66% of its earnings.

The remaining 46% of revenue and 34% of earnings come from its wireline division, which mainly consists of 3.2 million traditional phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. This business also includes 1.4 million Internet users and 865,000 TV customers.

Telus’s revenue rose 18.7%, from $9.6 billion in 2009 to $11.4 billion in 2013. Revenue will probably improve to $12.0 billion in 2014.

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TELUS $38.35 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 615.0 million; Market cap: $23.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.telus.com) continues to expand its health care division, which helps doctors, pharmacies and hospitals convert patient records and other information to
electronic formats.

The company recently paid an undisclosed sum for ZRx Prescriber, an app that lets doctors write prescriptions through their tablet computers and smartphones. The app can also access a patient’s drug-insurance information, which speeds up claims and cuts down on errors.

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Ottawa continues to encourage the formation of a fourth national wireless carrier to compete with market leaders Rogers, Telus and BCE. As a result, regulators have restricted these three from buying new radio frequencies, or spectrum. They may also force them to lease space on their networks to smaller competitors at heavily discounted rates. We feel Telus’s ongoing network investments and new customer-friendly service plans will keep attracting wireless users, despite a potential new rival. That will help it offset falling demand for traditional phone services and give it more room for dividend hikes and share buybacks. TELUS CORP. $39 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 615.5 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest wireless carrier, after Rogers Communications, with 7.9 million subscribers. Wireless now supplies 54% of Telus’s revenue and 66% of its earnings....