BCE Inc. (BCE.TO)

Whatever the trends are in the US, they are coming up here. AT&T (T-N) customers are getting rid of land lines, and this action will impact BCE. However, the company is a great growth story. They have positioned themselves very well in wireless. Have also added content. Good yield. When you want safety and income, this is a better Buy today than Canadian banks, with the risk of housing markets and energy.

You buy this for the dividend of about 5%. There’s not a lot of growth. Valuation is relatively full. $60-$61 is all he can see a year out.

This one fits in with his defensive thesis. All the telco names do. Not a huge amount of growth in these names. This recently acquired Manitoba Tell (MBT-T) which was a good transaction overall. Not a lot of downside.

The deal with Manitoba Telecom (MBT-T) is likely to go through. A really well run business and a good dividend payer.

This scores well on all 3 of his metrics. It is the single best stock from a volatility perspective. Good dividend of 4.5%. This should be one of those stocks that is a core value of a portfolio.

This has had a really good run. He would tend to sit on the sidelines and see how the market does in the next few weeks. Alternatively, you could buy half of what you want. This is a core position for him. The dividend is great and they keep increasing it.

Earnings were reasonably decent. Has a fantastic dividend yield of 4.5%. The space is a really tough one right now, but the chart shows a strong long upward trend. He has a price target of $82.

Canadian rates are staggeringly high compared to other jurisdictions. Despite many governments promising they were going to introduce competition in the sector, nobody has successfully done that. He doesn’t own this because he feels that someday there may be price competition of a real sort, but then again, maybe not.

Sold his holdings recently in the $59-$60 level because these names start to become a bit toppy and hitting the highs that they had hit before. He likes the name. Great dividend, great cash flow and good media content. Would like to buy it a little cheaper.

The issue with the telco industry at this stage is that you have a new entrant on the wireless side coming in. You are also facing a lot of pressure on the cable side with the people going over the top, etc. The industry is facing some serious headwinds. He has been reducing his exposure to the sector. However, if you have to be in this sector and you want very low risk, this is probably the name to have. They have a decent strategy and are deriving very visible and stable growth. The dividend will continue to grow at a slow pace, but you have good visibility on it.

Acquiring Manitoba Telecom (MBT-T), and will essentially give BCE 500,000 new subscribers if the deal goes through. The “average revenue per user” is considerably lower than the one for BCE. Once those clients come online, with the wider variety of products and services BCE has, the revenue per user can go up as well. 4.5% dividend yield.

Telus (T-T) Bell (BCE-T) or Rogers (RCI.B-T)? He owns BCE which he likes. They just did a big deal where they acquired Manitoba Tel. The issue is whether the deal goes through as they still need regulatory approval.

They are executing the best in terms of customer metrics that are tracked. The average revenue per phone bill has been the best. T-T has fears about Western Canada. RCI.B-T has had sports and media being a bit of a drag. BCE-T are executing the best.

Looks like the best one in the sector. He doesn’t own any thing in the sector right now. The dividend is quite safe. The question is, where are you going to get the growth from. It doesn’t look like it is going to come from the mobility side, which is too competitive.

It would be very hard to believe there could be a dividend cut. There is merit for Canadian players in this space to trade at a premium to their US counterparts.