Buy for yield and takeover prospects

Article Excerpt

Manitoba Telecom’s annual dividend took a big jump in 2004, from $1 share to $2.60, mostly due to investor pressure at a time when many companies were converting to high-yield income trusts. Dividends remained steady until August 2010. That’s when the company cut its annual payout by 34.6%, to $1.70 a share, to free up cash for network upgrades. Now, Manitoba Tel has the funds to continue to invest for growth, and still pay $1.70 a share for a high 5.0% yield. MANITOBA TELECOM SERVICES INC. $34.01 (Toronto symbol MBT; Shares outstanding: 64.7 million; Market cap: $2.3 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.0%; www.mts.ca) gets 53% of its revenue from its MTS division, which mainly sells traditional and wireless telephone services to consumers in Manitoba. The remaining 47% comes from its Allstream division, which sells communication services to businesses across Canada. In the three months ended March 31, 2011, Manitoba Telecom’s revenue fell slightly, to $439.3 million from $442 million a..