Verizon decision lifts Telus

Article Excerpt

TELUS CORP. $33 (Toronto symbol T; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 645.7 million; Market cap: $21.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; Dividend yield: 4.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.telus.com) moved up on news that U.S.-based Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) is buying the 45% of the Verizon Wireless joint venture that it does not already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon Wireless has 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. In the wake of the this deal, Verizon announced that it would not enter Canada’s wireless market at this time. Ottawa still plans to set aside wireless spectrum for new entrants at an auction in January 2014. That could encourage other foreign carriers besides Verizon to expand into Canada. Telus gets a high 53% of its revenue and 67% of its earnings from wireless, so it’s particularly vulnerable to new competition. As well, new regulations that limit roaming charges and let customers cancel their contracts early…