Telus Corp (T.TO)

They are very shareholder friendly and one of the best managed companies. They can defend themselves admirably against Shaw. T-T’s core business is growing all the time. It is a great buying opportunity on weakness.

Over the last 5 years they have raised dividends 10% per year. They will do this for another 3 years. He believes they will come through for at least a year with this promise. He prefers RCI.B-T although it is a little ahead of itself right now.

Telcos have been one of the better sectors this year. Large pools of money have piled into defensive sectors. Unless you have a poor outlook for next year, he does not think it is a time to pile into T-T.

He is warm to the telecoms. This would probably be the least favourite of his after Rogers (RCI.B-T), just because of their exposure out West.

A disappointment in net additions in the last quarter. He thinks there is growth. They have a health division where they have new growth. They also are expanding their data center business. Take advantage of the low prices.

Great company. Probably a little bit growthier than some of the others. On his Safety & Value strategy, it rates very, very well, probably in the top quartile of the names that he is looking at.

After the quarter there was a small miss so he likes it. It generates free cash flow and will generate 5% yield.

This was the golden boy of the telcos. Chart shows a nice up trend of higher highs and higher lows. However, recently it has started moving sideways. There is a lot of rotation going on out there and you have to be aware of it. Not a terrible looking chart, but not something that he would be jumping all over. (See Top Picks.)

This got to the top of the heap of the telco world, and has subsequently seen their numbers soften. Combining this with a weaker economic environment in Western Canada has been kind of a drag. There was also a CEO transition. Good well-run company and good dividend growth. There is no media exposure which might help them going forward. Longer-term this is a good holding.

It has done well, but growth prospects have slowed down as they compete with cable companies. You can continue to hold it, but it is not the bargain it was two to three years ago. It is okay for the dividend.

Telus (T-T) or BCE (BCE-T)? The difficult part about this company is their Western exposure. The dividend is certainly sustainable. A well-run company, but is going to suffer for the next couple of months because of their Western exposure. If you see this down a little more, that would be a good opportunity to buy.

Cutting jobs and it seems like their wireless is not going as well as it has. Thinks the telcos have had a free lunch on Rogers (RCI.B-T). Rogers had put forward this “share everything” plan, which really seems to be gaining some traction. This was trading at about 19X versus 16X a five-year average. Expensive. You could probably get this cheaper.

The most concentrated telecom in the sector. He continues to buy it for new clients and has been for a long time. There is not much competition in a space where he sees considerable growth. Every day we are doing more and more with our smart phones and so their revenue per user keeps on going up. Penetration in Canada is lower than the US and has quite a lot of room to grow. There is lots of upside to revenue from current users as well as lots of late adopters. They will be able to raise their dividend as in past years.

He was buying today. All the telcos are doing fabulous things these days. This one of the three has the best capital allocation. 3.9% dividend. The only telco that did not get into the content area. He hedges his bets by also owning two others.

(Top Pick Sep 15/14, Up 12.16%) It did what you expect in a down market. Wireless penetration continued to increase. It was a safe place to hide in a tough market.