Topic: How To Invest

BCE INC. $43.43 – Toronto symbol BCE

BCE INC. $43.43 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 773.9 million; Market cap: $33.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.2%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also sells satellite TV services across the country. The company just bought Canadian radio and TV giant Astral Media for $3.4 billion.

In the three months ended June 30, 2012, BCE’s earnings per share rose 18.6%, to $1.02 from $0.86 a year earlier. Revenue fell 0.6%, to $4.9 billion from $5.0 billion. Revenue at the traditional telephone business, which supplies 57% of BCE’s overall revenue, fell 3.9%, partly due to strong competition from cable companies.

However, some of BCE’s land-line clients are switching to mobile phones, which are more profitable for the company. That helped fuel a 6.7% revenue increase at the wireless division (31% of total revenue). Revenue at BCE’s media division (12%) rose 0.9%.

The company now expects to earn $3.15 to $3.20 a share in 2012, up from its earlier forecast of $3.13 to $3.18. The stock trades at 13.7 times the midpoint of the new range. BCE has also raised its quarterly dividend by 4.6%, to $0.5675 a share from $0.5425. The new annual rate of
$2.27 a share yields 5.2%.

BCE is still a safety-conscious buy.

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