Telus Corp.

These two telecom firms face the same regulatory hurdles as Telus (see page 101). But like Telus, they’re improving their services while keeping their operating costs down. That will let them both maintain their high dividend yields, but we prefer BCE for its greater geographic reach. BCE INC. $48 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 827.7 million; Market cap: $39.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 5.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone services, with 5.0 million customers in Ontario and Quebec. It also has 2.2 million high-speed Internet customers and 2.3 million TV subscribers. BCE also sells wireless services to 7.8 million customers across Canada, and its Bell Media segment owns CTV Television, specialty channels and radio stations....

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....

TELUS CORP. $40 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 615.5 million; Market cap: $24.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; 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. Over 520 clinics in Ontario and Quebec use ZRx Prescriber to process 400,000 prescriptions a month.

Telus is a buy.

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TELUS CORP. $40 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 615.5 million; Market cap: $24.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; 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. Over 520 clinics in Ontario and Quebec use ZRx Prescriber to process 400,000 prescriptions a month. Telus is a buy....

TELUS $39.87 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 619.0 million; Market cap: $24.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.8%; www.telus.com) gets 55% of its revenue from its 7.9 million wireless subscribers across Canada. It also has 3.3 million phone customers, 1.4 million high-speed Internet users and 865,000 TV subscribers. In the three months ended June 30, 2014, Telus’s earnings per share rose 16.7%, to $0.63 from $0.54 a year earlier. Revenue increased 4.4%, to $2.95 billion from $2.83 billion. Wireless revenue rose 6.1%, thanks to new wireless subscribers and rising use of smartphones, which generate higher fees than regular cellphones. Revenue gained 2.4% at the wireline (land line) division, where an increase in Telus TV and high-speed Internet subscribers more than offset customers cancelling land lines and switching to wireless devices....

BCE INC., $48.80, Toronto symbol BCE, fell slightly in response to the federal government’s new plan to auction off more blocks of high-quality wireless frequencies (or spectrum). Ottawa has set aside 60% of this spectrum for smaller wireless providers. It will also limit how much of the remainder that larger providers like BCE can buy. Ottawa hopes these moves will encourage other wireless carriers, which mainly operate in certain regions, to expand into other parts of Canada. The new rules are unlikely to substantially hurt BCE’s wireless operations, which supply 28% of its revenue. Meanwhile, the company continues to see strong demand for its Fibe service, which uses fibre optic cable to deliver high-speed Internet and digital TV. As of March 31, 2014, it had 534,110 Fibe TV subscribers in Ontario and Quebec, up 80.6% from a year earlier....

POWER CORP. $30.40 (Toronto symbol POW; Shares outstanding: 412.4 million; Market cap: $14.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Div. yield: 3.8%; www.powercorporation.com) is a diversified holding company. It holds its financial assets through 65.8%-owned Power Financial. These financial assets include 68.1% of Great- West Lifeco, one of Canada’s largest life insurers (see article on Great-West Lifeco in this issue), and 58.7% of IGM Financial, a leading Canadian mutual fund provider. Power Financial also owns 50% of holding company Parjointco, which holds 55.6% of Switzerland- listed Pargesa Holdings SA. Pargesa has 95% of its assets in five large European companies: Imerys (minerals), Total SA (oil), Pernod Ricard (wine and spirits), Suez Environnement (energy, water and waste services) and Lafarge (cement and building materials). Power Corp. also has investments in Asia....

TELUS $42.29 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 619.0 million; Market cap: $26.0 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.6%; www.telus.com) gets 55% of its revenue from its 7.8 million wireless subscribers across Canada. It also has 3.3 million phone customers, 1.4 million high-speed Internet users and 815,000 TV subscribers.

In the three months ended March 31, 2014, Telus’s earnings per share rose 8.9%, to $0.61 from $0.56 a year earlier. Revenue increased 5.0%, to $2.90 billion from $2.76 billion.

Wireless revenue rose 5.6%, thanks to new wireless subscribers and rising use of smartphones, which generate higher fees than regular cellphones. Revenue gained 4.4% in the the wireline (land line) division, where an increase in Telus TV and high-speed Internet subscribers more than offset customers cancelling land lines and switching to wireless devices.

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TELUS CORP. $41 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 618.9 million; Market cap: $25.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) has dropped its $350-million bid for wireless carrier Mobilicity.

The company was more interested in Mobilicity’s wireless frequencies, or spectrum, than its 165,000 wireless customers (Telus has 7.8 million wireless subscribers across Canada).

However, Ottawa opposed the deal. As well, if Telus had refused to drop the takeover, Ottawa would probably have blocked it from bidding on new spectrum at an auction planned for April 2015.

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TELUS CORP. $41 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 618.9 million; Market cap: $25.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) has dropped its $350-million bid for wireless carrier Mobilicity.

The company was more interested in Mobilicity’s wireless frequencies, or spectrum, than its 165,000 wireless customers (Telus has 7.8 million wireless subscribers across Canada).

However, Ottawa opposed the deal....