Higher Spending Should Spur Earnings

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $46 and T.A $45; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 327.4 million; Market cap: $15.1 billion; SI Rating: Above average) plans to spend $1.9 billion on capital improvements in 2008, up $150 million or 8.8% from 2007. Most of the spending will go to expanding its high-speed wireless coverage and capacity in Alberta and British Columbia. Telus also plans to improve its high-speed Internet services. Better services will help Telus hang on to its current customers, and attract new ones. That will also help expand Telus’s earnings in 2008 to $3.65 a share, up 10.6% from the $3.30 a share it likely earned in 2007. The stock trades at 12.6 times the new estimate (12.3 times for the ‘A’ shares). That should help Telus raise its $1.80 dividend, which yields 3.9% (4.0% for the ‘A’ shares). Telus is a buy. The cheaper, non-voting ‘A’ shares are the better choice. choice…