BCE offers growth and rising income

Article Excerpt

BCE has raised its dividend nine times since December 2008. The stock yields a high 5.1%. The shares are also up 118% since the end of 2008, but they are still reasonably priced in relation to BCE’s steadily rising earnings. BCE INC. $46.26 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 775.4 million; Market cap: $35.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also sells satellite and Internet TV services across the country. In the three months ended December 31, 2012, BCE’s earnings per share rose 4.8%, to $0.65 from $0.62 a year earlier. Revenue was unchanged at $5.2 billion. Revenue at the traditional telephone business, which supplies 51% of BCE’s overall revenue, fell 3.7%, partly due to strong competition from cable companies. However, many of BCE’s land-line clients are switching to mobile phones, which are more profitable for the company. That helped fuel a 6.8% revenue increase at the…