Rogers Communications (B) (RCI.B.TO)

BCE-T vs. RCI.B-T. BCE-T is considered the steadiest and safest of the three. It has run up quite a bit in the last year as a flight to safety. RCI.B-T has come off a bit after offering their unlimited data plan which was a bigger success than they anticipated. He would buy RCI.B-T. A year from now they won't have any issues with unlimited data.

Rogers is now trading at 14x. They missed on earnings. BCE didn't miss on earnings and has good growth. They also have a good dividend. However, BCE is trading at 17x. Both will be beneficiaries of 5G.

Sell Rogers to buy WSP? They're completely different companies and sectors. WSP grows by acquisition. Rogers isn't allocating capital wealth well , which has driven their valuation to an 8-year low. Conversely, this makes Rogers attractive. It's probably oversold. Don't sell. WSP: the valuation is too high as they've bought three companies recently, so he won't buy it now.

He doesn't follow the telcos daily, but he prefers telcos over cable companies. Telus and BCE have nearly completed their 5G install, though Rogers is converting too. BCE is better than Rogers, which blew its budget on the NHL broadcast licenses; Canadian teams haven't gone deep into the playoffs which has limited Rogers' revenue. In fact, there's more growth in soccer and other non-hockey sports, so that's a tailwind for BCE's broadcasting arm. All telcos will be impacted by the unlimited data plans now on the market. BCE has great assets and a lower payout ratio than Rogers.

It is a pretty solid company. They have risk from a fiscal policy which would be lower on PPL-T. You have fiscal risk on all the telecoms right now.

He prefers Telus, which is a pure play. Rogers owns sports teams, not a pure play. They do have a strong moat. But Canadian politicians vow to reduce cell phone bills and this will hurt all telcos. Canadians pay very high cell phone bills compared to the world. Well-run and pays a good dividend.