BCE Inc. (BCE.TO)

(Market Call Minute.) This has pulled back on the CRTC Internet thing. This is a Hold, but a buy at $50.

They are down a little bit because of the recent CRTC ruling of having to give wholesale access to fibre on the home, where they have been a big investor. Doesn’t think, in the intermediate term, it is a huge deal given that what they have to wholesale is only 10% of their business and hasn’t really taken off. They generate a lot of free cash flow and will put a lot of that towards dividend growth.

Full disclosure: BCE is the parent of their network. He feels that BCE represents a really good buying opportunity. Lows are in place for the last 6 months. Thinks it is a good risk reward. If it gets above $56.00 it looks very intriguing. Target is in the low $70's. Could also look at buying Telus and AT&T, but thinks BCE is more interesting because it offers a full compliment of services.

He found it got incredibly expensive. It has flat lined. Their dividend is high and capital structure is high. The Netflix’s of the world are cutting cable revenues. It has a great free cash flow yield. He just needs some kind of entry point like a 5-10% pull back. It trades at a high level globally. Don’t buy any of these now. He prefers legacy assets at the moment.

Preferred F or Preferred D? The 1^st rate cut in January really hammered preferred resets. Now we have another rate cut which is hammering them again. The Preferred sector has become a sector where people have shed a lot of holdings, in favour of either going to equities or fixed income over a longer-term. He is not sure if he would entirely exit at this point, because these things are always somewhat overdone in the short term.

(Market Call Minute) Likes it for the yield. Probably going up over time.

Buying a $60 Jan/17 Call for $1 and Selling a $40 Put? This is a great high dividend paying stock. It is in a mature industry and is a mature company. They have increased their dividends about 9 times in the last 5 years. The Call options are relatively cheap because it is a high dividend paying company. He is not sure that he sees huge growth in the company. By Buying a Call and Selling a Put, what you have actually done is synthetically created a position on the company, so it is going to act pretty much the same as the company stock, up or down. To trade options on this company, he would be writing Puts closer to where the stock’s price is now, may be a $55 Put. If you really think there is a lot of opportunity on the upside, which he doesn’t really think so, you can stay with the $60 Call. He would close out the Put and Sell another Put at the money.

(Top Pick Jul 2/14, Up 18.12%) It’s almost like a fixed income. The management is first rate. They know what they are doing. A 10-12% yield is a good objective going forward. He expects another dividend increase soon.

Telecoms? He would look at BCE (BCE-T) or Telus (T-T), but not Rogers (RCI.B-T). The CRTC has given a bit of breathing room here. They are probably going to push through a 4^th carrier, but have probably kicked it down for a year or 2. Both names are very investable at these levels. They continue to benefit from gaining share at the high-end and healthy ARPU growth. Strong revenue growth, which is allowing them to be aggressive on retaining customers.

His model price is $42.74, a -20%. If interest rates are set to move higher, a lot of these companies will feel the pain. Interest sensitives will go down. He sees this going a little lower in the short term. He would look at $48.12 as an entry point.

Stock vs. Stock. BCE-T vs. T-T. BCE-T has a fair market value of $61. It if hits that again it will set back. T-T is the same. It is in a rising phase right now but is not the exciting value for you to make it half your portfolio.

Likes this as a core position. Thinks that in 10 years it is going to be very different because of their exciting content. Chart shows a nice upward channel. If it broke down through the $52 level, we would probably see $46 come in really quickly. Long-term it is a good space to be in.

This is one of those names where you are getting quality and an established business. That is the good side. The bad side is you are not going to see double-digit share price appreciation for the most part. Over the last 52 weeks, the stock is up 7.8%, which is more than what he would generally expect from a name like this.

A good solid telecom company. We continue to use more and more mobile communication services in our everyday lives. This is his favourite out of the 3 Canadian ones. The best dividend payer. They will continue to do well.

Royal Bank (RY-T) or BCE (BCE-T)? In terms of one or the other, it is hard when it is in such a divisive space. This telecom has been bulking up on the content side. In his view it is the best one to own on the wireless side. Both companies pay good dividends, and both are best of breed. If you had to pick one over the other, it would be this for the short term.