Stock price when the opinion was issued
Because he considers this to be a utility stock, utility stocks normally do very well in the summertime. Technically it looks very good. Recently broke to a new high. It’s in an upward trend and is outperforming the Canadian market and is above its 20 day moving average. RSIs are positive. A very attractive situation.
There is thinking that this will eventually get swallowed up by one of the larger telcos. The new management has done a fairly good job of restructuring and cutting costs. While you are waiting for it to be taken over, it has a decent dividend, and she doesn’t see anything negative on the horizon. It should do okay in a volatile market.
There are three reasons it is trading below the offer price. You have a time value until it closes; there is the uncertainty of the regulators (3 have to approve this); and it is based on where BCE-T is trading when the deal closes, so you may not get the $40 offer price. He would sell it and let someone else have the uncertainty.
Manitoba Tel (MBT-T) or Telus (T-T)? The market has now changed a little bit in its outlook since interest rates have started to rise. On the equity side, you can’t just buy something for yield anymore because the stock price might go down because we need a higher yield to price the stock in a higher interest rate environment. Therefore, you need yield plus growth. Today, Telus has better growth than Manitoba Tel.