Two more telcos—one a buy

Article Excerpt

In addition to BCE (see page 21), we also like these two other leading telcos. Both Telus and Manitoba Telecom are doing a good job attracting new customers, and hanging on to their current subscribers. Recent cost-cutting plans should also give them more cash to improve their networks and increase their dividends. TELUS CORP. $40 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 599.9 million; Market cap: $24.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 4.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest wireless telephone service provider, after Rogers Communications, with 8.5 million subscribers. Wireless now supplies 56% of Telus’s revenue and 66% of its earnings. The remaining 44% of revenue and 34% of earnings come from its wireline division, which serves 1.5 million residential phone customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. This business also has 1.6 million high-speed Internet users and 1.0 million TV clients. The stock is down 11% from its July 2015…