Updates on BCE Inc., Loblaw Companies, and Enerplus Corp.

Article Excerpt

BCE INC. $57.52 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares o/s: 900.4 million; Market cap: $51.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.bce.ca) has completed the acquisition of AlarmForce Industries (symbol AF on Toronto). The purchase price was $182 million. BCE will now sell AlarmForce’s Western Canadian opertions to TELUS $46.31 (Toronto symbol T; Shares o/s: 594.5 million; Market cap: $27.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Divd. yield: 4.4%; www.telus.com). Telus will pay $66.5 million for about 39,000 customer accounts in B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan. That’s about 40% of the home security provider’s customers in Canada. The deal makes sense for both companies. Most of BCE’s landline residential customers are east of Saskatchewan. Telus has the majority of its residential lines in Alberta and British Columbia. BCE is a buy. Telus is also a buy. LOBLAW COMPANIES $66.63 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 388.2 million; Market cap: $25.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.6%; www.loblaw.ca) is 48.5% held by George Weston Ltd…