BCE INC. $59.10 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 868.1 million; Market cap: $50.8 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.6%; www.bce.ca) is Canada’s largest provider of telephone, Internet and wireless services. It also offers satellite and Internet TV across the country.
In the three months ended March 31, 2016, the company’s earnings per share rose 1.2%, to $0.85 from $0.84 a year earlier. Revenue increased slightly, to $5.27 billion from $5.24 billion.
Revenue from wireless services (30% of the total) rose 5.3% as the company’s network upgrades continued to attract new subscribers. BCE also benefited from the rising use of smartphones. It can charge higher service fees for those devices than for regular cellphones.
Sales for BCE’s wireline business (57% of total revenue) fell just 1.5% on strong growth from Fibe TV. There are 1.2 million subscribers to that service. BCE also has 1.5 million satellite TV users.
BCE has now made a $3.1 billion takeover offer for Manitoba Tel (see page 33). The purchase looks like a great fit for the company. It will invest $1 billion over five years to expand its broadband and other networks in Manitoba. This will let it offer more services—including Fibe TV—to Manitoba Tel’s existing customers.
The stock trades at 16.6 times BCE’s forecast 2016 earnings of $3.57 a share. The company raised its quarterly dividend by 5.0% with the April 2016 payment, to $0.6825 a share from $0.65. The new annual rate of $2.73 yields 4.6%.
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Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
The Successful Investor Inc. and its affiliate Successful Investor Wealth Management (referred to hereafter as TSI Network) know that you care how information about you is used and shared, and we appreciate your trust that we will do so carefully and sensibly. This notice describes our privacy policy. By visiting websites owned by or associated with TSI Network, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy.
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We do not collect or disclose personal information, except when it is provided to us voluntarily by the site/store visitor with their consent.
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What personal information do we collect?
The information we receive from customers helps us personalize and continually improve your online experience at TSI Network. TSI Network may collect personal information online for all legal purposes, which include, but are not limited to:
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