Rogers Communications (B)

RCI.B-T

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.

A very defensive space, telcos. Not a growth stock, but pays income. He prefers BCE, because it just finished a big capex cycle and pays a higher dividend. Also, wireless penetration in Canada is limited, which in turn limits growth. That said, all the Canadian telcos are good for the long-term. Buy for the dividend, not growth.

Generally, she doesn't have a core position in telecoms. She doesn't see the growth. Dividends are safe. Rogers has lagged BCE, but looks as though it's stabilizing here. Wireless will drive these companies. Subscribers continue to go up, and they also sell data. Rogers is a safe income stock. Yield is just shy of 3%.

With telecoms, you want to look at enterprise value over EBITDA. Likes the dividend, of about 3%, and should grow. Stock's a bit off because of competition last quarter. Good time to accumulate shares. For total return, best performer compared to BCE and Telus over last few years.