Strong demand for Internet TV

Article Excerpt

BELL ALIANT INC. $27.24 (Toronto symbol BA; Shares outstanding: 227.8 million; Market cap: $6.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 7.0%; www.aliant.ca) sells telephone and Internet services to 2.8 million customers in Atlantic Canada, as well as rural parts of Ontario and Quebec. The company also sells wireless services through an alliance with BCE, which owns 43.8% of Bell Aliant. The company’s revenue fell 0.7% in the three months ended June 30, 2012, to $687.7 million from $692.6 million a year earlier. Strong gains from Internet TV (up 79.6%), wireless (up 14.6%) and Internet services (up 5.8%) were offset by declines in local phone service (down 5.4%) and long distance (down 11.6%). Bell Aliant earned $79.3 million, or $0.35 a share, in the quarter. That’s down 5.0% from $83.5 million, or $0.36 a share, a year earlier. If you exclude writedowns and other unusual items, earnings per share fell 2.3%, to $0.42 from $0.43. The stock trades at a reasonable 15.7 times Bell…