BCE closes a key acquisition

Article Excerpt

BCE INC. $43 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 775.9 million; Market cap: $33.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 5.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) has completed its $3.2-billion purchase of Astral Media, which owns 22 TV stations, 84 radio stations and several pay TV and specialty channels, such as the Movie Network, Family Channel and Teletoon. To win approval for the takeover, BCE agreed to sell several of Astral’s specialty TV channels and radio stations. Still, the new operations should immediately add to the company’s earnings. BCE is a buy. buy…