Our other two telcos: 1 buy and 1 hold

Article Excerpt

Like Telus (see page 71), BCE and Manitoba Telecom are speeding up their networks to profit from demand for faster downloads—both through high-speed Internet and wirelessly. Both companies can easily afford to make these investments and maintain their dividends, but we feel BCE is the better choice right now. BCE INC. $55 (Toronto symbol BCE; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 841.9 million; Market cap: $46.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 4.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest telephone provider, with 7.0 million customers in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. It also has 3.3 million highspeed Internet users and 2.7 million TV subscribers. This business supplies 57% of BCE’s revenue. The company also sells wireless services (31% of revenue) to 8.1 million customers across Canada, and its Bell Media segment (12%) owns CTV Television, specialty channels and radio stations. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, BCE’s overall earnings rose 12.6%, to…