Dividend hikes just add to their appeal

Article Excerpt

TELUS $48.83 (Toronto symbol T; Shares o/s: 601.0 million; Market cap: $29.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.6%; www.telus.com) is Canada’s third-largest wireless carrier after Rogers Communications (No. 1) and Bell Mobility (No. 2). The company’s wireless business has 9.7 million subscribers and supplies about 55% of its revenue and 70% of its earnings. The remaining 45% of revenue and 30% of Telus’ earnings come from its wireline business. That operation has 1.2 million landline phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec as well as 1.9 million Internet users and 1.1 million TV customers. In the three months ended March 31, 2019, earnings rose 4.1%, to $453 million from $435 million, a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share rose at a slower rate of 2.7%, to $0.75 from $0.73. Revenue improved 3.8%, to $3.51 billion from $3.38 billion. The company added 60,000 new wireless subscribers (net of cancellations) in the quarter. That represents a 57.9% increase from 39,000 a..