Verizon Communications Inc.

The possibility of U.S.-based Verizon Communications entering the Canadian wireless market has hurt BCE’s shares. (Verizon is a recommendation of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks.) However, BCE’s strategy of selling bundles of services—wireless, regular phone, Internet and TV—under long-term contracts should help it hang on to its customers.

BCE INC....

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 $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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TECK RESOURCES LTD., $25.11, Toronto symbol TCK.B, reported lower results this week due to weaker metallurgical coal and copper prices. Even so, the latest revenue and earnings beat the consensus forecasts. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, Teck’s earnings fell 50.5%, to $197 million, or $0.34 a share. These figures exclude unusual items, such as foreign exchange losses and asset writedowns. On this basis, the latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.31 a share. A year earlier, Teck earned $398 million, or $0.68 a share. Revenue fell 16.0%, to $2.2 billion from $2.6 billion. Even with the decline, the latest figure also beat the consensus estimate of $2.1 billion....

ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $54 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340- 777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.7 million; Market cap: $855.6 million; Yield: 1.9%) expects to soon complete the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) for cash of $780 million....

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....

ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK $54 (Nasdaq symbol ATNI; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (340- 777-8000; www.atni.com; Shares outstanding: 15.7 million; Market cap: $855.6 million; Yield: 1.9%) expects to soon complete the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) for cash of $780 million. In April 2010, Atlantic bought Alltel from Verizon Wireless for just $223 million.

In the three months ended March 31, 2013, Atlantic’s revenue fell 5.6%, to $172.9 million from $183.1 million a year earlier. Alltel accounted for $108.0 million of revenue in the latest quarter, and slowed in the latest quarter. Earnings fell 5.8%, to $8.8 million, or $0.56 a share, from $9.3 million, or $0.60 a share.

After the sale, Atlantic Tele-Network will still have telecom operations in the U.S. southwest, New England, New York State, Guyana, Bermuda and portions of the Caribbean islands.
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BLACKBERRY INC., $11.08, Toronto symbol BB, fell 26% on Friday after the company reported lower-than-expected earnings. In its 2014 first quarter, which ended June 1, 2013, BlackBerry shipped 6.8 million smartphones, down 12.8% from 7.8 million a year ago. The latest quarter’s shipments included 2.7 million of its new, higher-priced BlackBerry 10 models, which fell short of the consensus estimate of 3.3 million. BlackBerry also lost $84 million, or $0.16 a share (all amounts except share price in U.S. dollars). Still, that’s a big improvement over the $510 million, or $0.97 a share, it lost a year earlier....