Telus’s dividend still looks safe

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP. $24 is still your #1 Income Buy for 2023. The company (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $33.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 6.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest wireless carrier (after BCE, see page 89). It also sells landline phone, Internet and TV services in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. As well, the company owns 72.2% of Telus International (Cda) Inc. (Toronto symbol TIXT). That firm help businesses manage their call centres, websites and digital apps. Due to weaker demand for Telus International’s services, it plans to cut 2,000 jobs (about 3% of its total workforce. Parent company Telus will also cut 4,000 jobs (4% of it workforce). Severance and other costs will total $475 million in 2023. However, the plan should lower Telus’s annual expenses by $325 million. Those savings will support the Telus dividend, which totalled $1.28 billion in the 12 months ended June 30, 2023. In…