Topic: How To Invest

TELUS CORP. $47.65 – Toronto symbol T.A

TELUS CORP. $47.65 (Toronto symbol T.A; Shares outstanding: 320.7 million; Market cap: $15.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.2%; www.telus.com) is Canada’s second-largest telephone company, after BCE Inc. Telus has 6.9 million wireless subscribers across Canada. Its traditional phone business has 3.8 million customers in B.C., Alberta and eastern Quebec. Telus also has 1.2 million Internet subscribers. Its new “Telus TV” service, which operates through phone lines, has just 266,000 subscribers.

In the three months ended September 30, 2010, Telus’ earnings rose 6.0%, to $0.89 a share from $0.84 a year earlier. The company earned higher profits from wireless and Internet services. That offset a decline in local and long-distance customers.

Telus gets 51% of its earnings from wireless. It added 53,000 wireless subscribers in the latest quarter, up 22.4%. High-profit-margin smartphones account for 28% of its wireless subscribers, up from 18%.

The company is facing rising competition from new wireless providers. However, it has spent $5.7 billion over the last three years to upgrade its network. That will help it hold on to clients and attract new ones. It will spend $1.7 billion on network upgrades in 2011.

Telus will probably earn $3.70 a share in 2011. The stock trades at just 13.4 times that estimate. The shares yield 4.2%.

Telus is a buy.

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