verizon

ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST (Toronto symbol AP.UN; www.alliedpropertiesreit.com) owns 134 office buildings, mostly in major Canadian cities. These mainly Class I properties contain over 9.5 million square feet of leasable area....

TELUS CORP. $33 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 645.7 million; Market cap: $21.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) moved up on news that U.S.-based Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) is buying the 45% of the Verizon Wireless joint venture that it does not already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon Wireless has 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. In the wake of the this deal, Verizon announced that it would not enter Canada’s wireless market at this time.

Ottawa still plans to set aside wireless spectrum for new entrants at an auction in January 2014. That could encourage other foreign carriers besides Verizon to expand into Canada. Telus gets a high 53% of its revenue and 67% of its earnings from wireless, so it’s particularly vulnerable to new competition. As well, new regulations that limit roaming charges and let customers cancel their contracts early could dampen the company’s earnings growth.

Telus is still a hold.

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AMAZON.COM INC., $316.01, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, has unveiled two new versions of its Kindle tablet computer, as the company aims to increase its small share of the highly competitive tablet market. Amazon has an estimated 5% of the U.S. tablet market, compared to 51% for the Apple iPad and 19% for Samsung. The company will continue to offer its lower-end Kindle Fire HD, with a seven-inch screen, for $139. However, it is now introducing a new seven-inch Kindle Fire HDX starting at $229 and an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HDX starting at $379....

Verizon’s shares dropped 4% after the company announced that it is buying full control of its wireless joint venture in early September 2013. That’s mainly because investors fear that Verizon is paying too much.

As well, big acquisitions like this usually involve substantial risk....

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC. $47 (New York symbol VZ, Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 2.9 billion; Market cap: $136.3 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 4.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.verizon.com) is the second-largest wireless service provider in the U.S., with 100.1 million subscribers. Market leader AT&T has 107.9 million wireless customers.

Wireless now supplies 67% of Verizon’s revenue and 80% of its earnings. The remaining 33% of revenue and 20% of earnings comes from its 21.8 million phone and Internet customers.

Verizon’s revenue rose 10.7%, from $97.4 billion in 2008 to $107.8 billion in 2009. Revenue dipped to $106.6 billion in 2010 but then rebounded to $115.8 billion in 2012.
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TELUS CORP. $33 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 645.7 million; Market cap: $21.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) moved up on news that U.S.-based Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) is buying the 45% of the Verizon Wireless joint venture that it does not already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD)....

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC., $46.34, New York symbol VZ, has agreed to buy the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it doesn’t already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon Wireless is a joint venture that sells wireless services to 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. In the second quarter of 2013, it supplied 67% of Verizon’s revenue and 80% of its earnings. The company will pay $130 billion for Vodafone’s stake. That’s almost as much as Verizon’s $132.6-billion market cap (or the total value of all its outstanding shares)....

TELUS CORP., $33.31, Toronto symbol T, rose 3% this week on news that U.S.-based Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) is buying the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it does not already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon is a recommendation of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture that sells wireless services to 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. Verizon is paying $130 billion U.S. for Vodafone’s stake, which is just below its $132.6-billion U.S. market cap (or the total value of all its outstanding shares). Shares of Telus fell from their recent peak of $37.94 on May 22, 2013, to $29.52 on June 27 on fears that Verizon would buy two smaller Canadian wireless carriers, Mobilicity and Wind Mobile, and bid on new wireless frequencies, or spectrum. However, in the wake of the Vodafone deal, Verizon announced that it would not enter Canada’s wireless market at this time....

BCE INC. $44.58 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 775.9 million; Market cap: $34.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Yield: 5.2%; www.bce.ca) has gained in response to U.S.-based Verizon Communications’ (New York symbol VZ) announcement that it will not enter the Canadian wireless market right now (see box below).

BCE is Canada’s second-largest wireless carrier, with 7.72 million subscribers....

TELUS $34.25 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 653.8 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.0%; www.telus.com) has jumped 8% on news that U.S.-based Verizon Communications Inc. (New York symbol VZ) is buying the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it does not already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc (Nasdaq symbol VOD) for $130 billion U.S.

In the wake of the Vodafone deal, Verizon announced that it would not enter Canada’s wireless market at this time....