BCE Inc. (BCE.TO)

Owns because of its steady growth in income. It steadily grows its dividend every year. It’s not exciting and you’re not going to get rich, but you are not going to get killed either. Like other utilities, it is very interest rate sensitive. If interest rates are going down, these types of stocks tend to do really well. It is a bond alternative. Should be a part of everybody’s portfolio. Dividend yield of 4.7%.

In Canada, more than half your total return comes from dividends. The government has been kind enough to give us a tax break on dividends. In this high tax era, we should take advantage. The company is growing their wireless business and we are all using more data all the time. We are going to be using a lot more data when we all have autonomous cars. Dividend yield of 4.7%. (Analysts’ price target is $62.)

She’s used both this and Telus (T-T) as income stocks. Both have an attractive yield, close to 4.5%-5%. They generate a lot of cash flow, so will typically increase their dividend at a modest pace each year. They’ve done relatively well. She doesn’t expect a lot of capital appreciation, maybe 5% from here at best, plus the yield. Uses these for defensive and income purposes.

Just reported yesterday, and beat on subscriber additions, on both wireless and wireline. This is a wireline company and they beat on that, partly due to Manitoba Telecom synergies. Thinks that is something that can continue, and is just in the early innings. He is only modelling a 2.5% EPS growth over the next couple of years, but not a bad valuation compared to its peers. Strong dividend and good dividend growth. You can buy more of this on a little bit of a pullback.

They had the best subscriber growth last quarter for 5 years. It is finally up a bit. It has been in danger of there not being much growth. They showed maybe that is wrong and we might see a little bit higher earnings.

Sell and move into AT&T (T-N)? Doesn't think this is fully priced. AT&T is a similar company, but trading at a much lower multiple. It has a nice dividend yield. Doesn't see a lot of top line growth coming into these companies. You continue to get a nice dividend, and maybe 2%-4% top line growth. Like BCE, they can probably continue to cut costs, grow their business, and give you a decent rate of return. Expects they will give you 8%-12% rates of return. AT&T's Dividend yield is 5.8%.

(A Top Pick June 12/17. Up 1%.) Typically, every summer, he goes low beta, so he looks for things that maybe don't have tons of upside, but maybe pays a dividend and gives a little bit of return. It might get to $62-$63, and then he would Sell. He tends to trade this through the summer just as a place to own something during the period that he thinks might be more volatile. 5% dividend yield.

Up for the year, but moving in a consolidation pattern, and goes back into 2016. Seasonally, this tends to do well from December into January. He would be positive on this over the next few months.

(A Top Pick Dec 2/16. Up 9%.) He still likes this. Pays an excellent dividend and has a good record of increasing it. Management has shown itself of being quite capable of getting into other areas such as sports, etc.

Still the dominant player in the market, although Telus (T-T) has done very well in the last few years. The big margins seem to be in wireless. He’s a little concerned about the telecom industry as a whole, except for wireless. BCE is still spending a lot of money and facing a lot of competition on the Internet side. On a valuation basis he’d be looking more at Telus.

The 4.9% dividend is important.

The problem with this company is that it is running hard up against its FMV. Every time it has got there, it has quit and set back. Right now, that target is $65, so at the current price you got about 11% to go. After that, it is going to set back.

A good dividend growth story. Well-managed from the perspective that it generates cash to the owners. They are very good to their shareholders. He would attribute the last $5 decline more to the fear of rising interest rates than anything specifically material to the company. Close to a 5% dividend yield is pretty darned good.

He is holding this for the income, which could be under pressure. Doesn’t think you are going to see dramatic increases in the underlying price, but the fundamentals are there. You potentially have a new wireless refresh cycle going on.

The business is under assault, but this company has managed extremely well. They are notorious for controlling costs. They’ve done a good job of acquiring companies where they are generating content to offset the business. The broadcast part of the business may go down, but the content part will be there and there will be distribution. People will want to see it. Thinks you are safe with this, but just doesn’t see a lot of opportunities for capital gains. Dividend yield of 4.9%.