Telus Corp.

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TELUS $31.12 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 653.8 million; Market cap: $20.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.telus.com) now plans to buy back $1 billion of its common shares by the end of 2013, up from its earlier goal of $500 million.

Share buybacks raise earnings per share and other per-share calculations and give the remaining shareholders a larger stake in the company.

The federal government now seems likely to change the rules regarding the upcoming auction of new wireless frequencies, or spectrum....

TELUS CORP. $31 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 654.1 million; Market cap: $20.3 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) plans to build a new 58-storey office tower, called Telus Sky, in downtown Calgary. In addition to offices, the building will include retail stores and residential units. Telus will be the main tenant, occupying 20% of the building’s overall floor space.

This project will cost $400 million. That’s equal to 1.1 times the $362 million, or $0.56 a share, that Telus earned in the three months ended March 31, 2013. The company expects to finish construction in the fall of 2017.

Telus is a buy....

TELUS $31.68 (Toronto symbol T; Shs. o/s: 653.8 million; Market cap: $20.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.telus.com) has 7.7 million wireless subscribers across Canada, and gets much more of its revenue from wireless than BCE (54% compared to BCE’s 32%—see left).

Telus gets the remaining 46% of its revenue from its traditional phone business, which has 3.4 million customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. Telus also has 1.3 million Internet subscribers and 712,000 Telus TV subscribers.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Telus’s earnings per share rose 14.3%, to $0.56 from $0.49 a year earlier. Revenue rose 4.8%, to $2.76 billion from $2.63 billion.
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TELUS (Toronto symbol T; www.telus.com) has 7.7 million wireless subscribers across Canada. It gets much more of its revenue from wireless than major competitor BCE—54% compared to BCE’s 32%. Telus gets the remaining 46% of its revenue from its traditional phone business, which has 3.4 million customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. Telus also has 1.3 million Internet subscribers and 712,000 Telus TV subscribers....

Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) has announced that it’s interested in buying two small Canadian wireless carriers: Wind Mobile and Mobilicity. Verizon is a recommendation of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks. Wind and Mobilicity both have negligible market share, so regulators will probably approve a sale....

TELUS $31.68 (Toronto symbol T; Shs. o/s: 653.8 million; Market cap: $20.7 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.3%; www.telus.com) has 7.7 million wireless subscribers across Canada, and gets much more of its revenue from wireless than BCE (54% compared to BCE’s 32%—see left).

Telus gets the remaining 46% of its revenue from its traditional phone business, which has 3.4 million customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec....