Telus expands a key niche

Article Excerpt

TELUS $47.42 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 601.0 million; Market cap: $28.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 4.7%; www.telus.com) is Canada’s third-largest wireless carrier after Rogers Communications (No. 1) and Bell Mobility (No. 2). The company’s wireless business has 9.89 million subscribers and supplies about 54% of its revenue and 67% of its earnings. The remaining 46% of the company’s revenue and 33% of its earnings come from its wireline business. Telus has now agreed to acquire the Canadian business of U.S.-based security firm ADT Inc. (New York symbol ADT). That operation provides security monitoring services to about 500,000 homeowners and businesses across Canada. This purchase will increase its security customers to roughly 600,000. The company will pay $700 million for ADT Canada when it completes the purchase by the end of 2019. To put that price in context, Telus earned $416 million, or $0.69 a share, in the second quarter of 2019. Telus is a buy. buy…