Telus Corp (T.TO)

In the midst of Canada's technical recession, you have to think about what kind of investor you are. A basket of telcos can be used as a bond proxy, as it'll provide income in your portfolio. Income can then be used to protect you defensively on the downside, or to redeploy into growthier names. It gives your portfolio some ballast.

It's an income story, not a growth story. Doesn't see much problem if you hold it longer term. If Telus cut its dividend, he'd probably buy. 

Owns this for a while and wants to exit it. Telcos suffer from lack of population growth and intense competition. The telcos have little growth, but the dividend is attractive. 

Heavy debt from network buildout, and concerns about dividend. Last quarter was steady, revenue roughly flat. FCF jumped 19%. Fibre and 5G build is winding down, so capex is being cut. May monetize Telus Health to pay down debt. 

Analysts are consistently too optimistic. Likes the company, but stay away for now. Prefers QBR.B.

Lots more capital at risk, but implies a lot more upside potential. Likes this name, though it's in the "have-not" area right now. Anemic wireless, yet still 13% EPS growth at 14x PE for 2028. Math still works. Beautiful dividend (but he expects a cut with the new CEO) -- stock should react positively.

She owns it for the dividend, and Telus has the most turnaround potential among the Canadian telcos. You can't go wrong with any telcos, which aren't getting any love now. They are undercutting each other are prices. She likes telcos for defence and yields, though is not high-growth.

Dividend will probably be cut, but it'll still be a nice dividend. Liked it at the start of the year, but some assumptions don't come to fruition. Uptick in wireless and less competitive landscape haven't happened. 

You have to ask yourself if you still like the stock? And he does. Look at the journey of INTC as an example. If your conviction goes from a high of 90% to, say, 80%, you can trim.

It's OK if things don't always go your way on a position. Sometimes you have to take action, and other times you don't.

He's worried about the dividend, too; cutting it would put them in a much better position. Payout ratio very high. Issues with leverage. Trying to divest various non-core operations. Telus Health doing well, but telco sector is challenged.

His firm has a small position. They're holding on and doing more homework. Bought lots of things that seemed to make sense, but weren't integrated properly. Asset base is great, just not performing well financially.

New CEO on July 1 -- very astute, high calibre, ran CIBC. Expect lots of changes, and those should be positive. Dividend may be cut, investors who own just for the dividend may sell, others will applaud the move, and stock may actually rally.

Long term, its assets have value. Stock's been cut in half from highs of 2022. Government has really hamstrung companies on network sharing. There's been competition. New CEO could be transformational. 

Stock's really washed out. Even if dividend is cut, still has a solid yield. Yield is 9.87%.

They've done well building non-core assets, so their dividend wasn't sustainable long-term. In this space, he prefers Rogers.

He owns no communications stocks based on the macro view. Slow-growth sector, at best. Good dividends, but they are at risk.

If he were the new CEO coming in, the dividend would be high in the pecking order of ways to restructure the company. If you need a tax-loss, a perfect candidate. If it then pops up, so be it. Much better fish to fry.

BCE provides the cautionary tale. If things don't improve, Telus's dividend could be at risk. When you see a dividend that looks too good to be true, your spidey senses should tingle.

He owns no telcos, all are facing price and volume headwinds.