Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, May 7, 2021

Article Excerpt

BCE INC., $59.11, Toronto symbol BCE, is a top pick for 2021. The company is Canada’s largest traditional telephone service provider. It also provides wireless services and high-speed Internet access, in addition to owning TV and radio stations. With the April 2021 payment, BCE raised your quarterly dividend by 5.1%. Investors now receive $0.875 a share instead of $0.8325. The new annual rate of $3.50 yields a high 5.9%. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spur demand for new mobile phones and services. As well, businesses are investing more in telecommunications equipment as their employees work from home. Those improvements offset lower revenue from the company’s media operations and a drop in the wireless roaming fees BCE collects from travellers. In the quarter ended March 31, 2021, revenue rose 1.2%, to $5.71 billion from $5.64 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $5.62 billion. Despite the higher revenue, earnings before unusual items slipped 1.3%, to $0.78 a share (or a total of $704…