Topic: Dividend Stocks

TELUS CORP. – Toronto symbols T $33 and T.A $32

TELUS CORP. (Toronto symbols T $33 and T.A $32; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 318.0 million; Market cap: $10.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 5.8%; SI Rating: Above Average) provides telephone services in British Columbia, Alberta and eastern Quebec. It also sells wireless services through a nationwide network.

The company expects its revenue to rise by 2% to 5% in 2010, to between $9.8 billion and $10.1 billion. Most of the gain will come from its wireless division, which contributes half of Telus’s revenue and earnings. This division recently upgraded its networks to handle a wider variety of cellphones, including Apple’s popular iPhone smartphone.

Telus should also profit as more people use their cellphones to send email, access the Internet and download software. That’s good news for Telus, since it earns higher fees for Internet access than regular phone calls. Moreover, the company’s wireless upgrades will help it capture more roaming fees from foreign tourists and business travellers who use their phones while in Canada.

Canada’s three new wireless providers will probably target more cost-conscious users, such as teens and young adults, to build market share as fast as possible. However, Telus already has a low-priced service called Koodo. And Telus’s recent upgrades make it more likely that Koodo users will remain with Telus as they upgrade to smartphones.

Telus will probably earn $3.18 a share in 2010, and the stock trades at just 10.4 times that estimate (or 10.1 times for the “A” shares).

Telus is a buy. The cheaper, non-voting “A” shares are the better choice.

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