Update on Telus

Article Excerpt

TELUS $31.12 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 653.8 million; Market cap: $20.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.4%; www.telus.com) now plans to buy back $1 billion of its common shares by the end of 2013, up from its earlier goal of $500 million. Share buybacks raise earnings per share and other per-share calculations and give the remaining shareholders a larger stake in the company. The federal government now seems likely to change the rules regarding the upcoming auction of new wireless frequencies, or spectrum. Right now, the rules would let Verizon and other big foreign carriers bid on the spectrum that Ottawa has set aside for new entrants. If Ottawa lets established carriers like Telus bid on this reserved spectrum, it would make it harder for Verizon to expand into Canada. Telus is still a buy. buy…