Two high-yield utilities: 1 buy, 1 hold

Article Excerpt

BCE INC. $59.41 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 899.5 million; Market cap: $53.1 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.8%; www.bce. ca) is Canada’s largest telephone service provider, with 21.9 million customers in Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. This includes 3.7 million high-speed Internet users, 2.8 million TV subscribers, 8.9 million cellphone customers and 6.5 million landline accounts. BCE completed its $3.9 billion acquisition of Manitoba Telecom in March 2017. That gave it 1.3 million telephone and wireless customers in Manitoba. In the quarter ended June 30, 2017, BCE’s revenue climbed 6.7%, to $5.7 billion from $5.3 billion. Earnings per share fell 6.4%, to $0.88 from $0.94 a year earlier. The decline was mostly due to added expenses from the Manitoba Tel acquisition. BCE lost 29,764 satellite TV subscribers in the quarter. However, the investments in its wireless and Internet networks continue to attract new customers: the company signed 35,728 wireless subscribers to long-term contracts (net of cancellations) in the…