Acquisition is already paying off

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP. $29 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $40.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 4.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) recently acquired LifeWorks Inc. for $2.9 billion. Formerly known as Morneau Shepell, this firm sells software and computer systems that help businesses manage a variety of human resources’ functions. Telus’s revenue in the third quarter of 2022, rose 9.9%, to $4.67 billion from $4.25 billion a year earlier. LifeWorks contributed $87 million to that gain. Earnings also improved 20.2%, to $471 million from $392 million; due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings rose at a slower rate of 17.2%, to $0.34 from $0.29. The company will now raise your quarterly dividend by 3.7%; the new annual rate of $1.4044 a share yields 4.8%. Telus is a buy. buy. …