AT&T (T)

Earnings got hit hard because of direct TV subscriptions going down. It will probably settle down. It is starting to form a base after coming down quite a bit. This is not the time of year to be in something like this. He does not see this stock performing extremely well over the next year.

He likes it but likes Verizon (VZ-N) better as they moved to 5G and he sees this technology as the future for everything we do in life.

Great fat income. 5G means massive capital investments. This company has too much debt and is a secondary player in the industry. Nice dividend.

Which one you prefer between AT&T (T-N) and Verizon (VZ-N) for an RRSP? Good companies with fine dividends. In terms of total return there are other companies with lower dividend yields but better growth prospects that he would rather choose.

Buy in the low-$30s and hope it pops up to the low-$40s, and collect the 5.9% dividend.

This isn't a chart he would own, though it pays a 6% dividend. Since late-2016 it's been in a classic downtrend channel, meaning it keeps falling.

BCE vs. ATT. Stock performance has been similar over last year. Comes down to the wireless space. For ATT, it’s the only thing they do, whereas with BCE it’s only one thing they do. In Canada, there’s more runway for wireless growth. He’d go with BCE, good dividend and cash flow. It’s a little early to own high dividend names, but once interest rates start falling, these names will look interesting.

The sector has been out of favour. People want faster growth. There is pricing pressure on the wireless side and people cutting phone lines. They are operating in an old world. There will be winners and losers in the industry. Their dividend has not been growing quickly.

Pays a good dividend, which is the only reason to buy it. Telcos are in a neverending buying cycle, while investors buy them for yield. It's tough for them to grow. In a registered plan, it's better to buy a Canadian telco than AT&T, given the tax advantage.

A better time to own telecoms are in a slowdown; we're now in the late cycle. But some investors like dividends and this is good for that. This stock has moved sideways though, below its 200-day moving average. This sector is
very mature so competition is intense and may pressure their bottom line.

He doesn’t know how they are going to finance the acquisition. Not likely see a dividend cut. AT&T and Verizon are the 2 wireless leaders in the US. Should be good long term investments but growth has really slowed down in this industry. Prefers Verizon over AT&T. They are good solid steady investments, but are not going to make big capital appreciation.