Good quarter for BCE

Article Excerpt

BCE INC. $48.01 (Toronto symbol BCE; Shares outstanding: 777.0 million;Market cap: $37.2 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 5.2%; www.bce.ca) reports that in the three months ended December 31, 2013, its earnings per share rose 16.7%, to $0.70 from $0.60 a year earlier. Revenue increased 4.3%, to $5.4 billion from $5.2 billion. BCE added 93,700 new wireless subscribers, net of cancellations, in the latest quarter (it now has 7.8 million users across Canada). That’s 10.8% fewer than it added a year earlier, but 73% of its subscribers under long-term contracts now use smartphones, up from 62%. That’s good news, because smartphones generate higher fees for BCE than regular cellphones. Average revenue per user rose 2.1%. BCE has just raised its quarterly dividend by 6.0%, to $0.6175 a share from $0.5825. The shares now yield 5.2%. As well, the stock trades at 15.1 times this year’s forecast earnings. BCE is still a safety-conscious buy. buy…