iPhone, TV should spur Telus’s growth

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $33 and T.A $31; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 318 million; Market cap: $10.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; SI Rating: Above Average) earned $280 million in the three months ended September 30, 2009. That’s down 2.1% from $286 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 1.1%, to $0.88 from $0.89, on fewer shares outstanding. Revenue fell 1.6%, to $2.41 billion from $2.45 billion. Higher demand for data services, such as accessing email and web sites, continues to lift revenue at Telus’s wireless division, which accounts for roughly half of the company’s revenue. That helped offset falling revenue at its traditional telephone business, which provides the remaining half of Telus’s revenue. Telus’s wireless revenue should get a further boost now that the company is selling the hugely popular Apple iPhone smartphone. As well, Telus is attracting new customers with its Telus TV service, which uses high-speed Internet technology to transmit signals over existing…