
TSE:BCE
A reasonable place to look for yield, but it is a hyper competitive environment. He would expect that over time margins will begin to compress, solely because of the strong competition and the very high reinvestment requirement in the telco space. Probably not the worst idea in the world for a yield investment.
Playing the game of whether this is expensive on a high-quality name like this is a little bit risky. Trading at around 17X PE, and long-term he doesn’t think this as expensive. You might see a correction, but he wouldn’t let that scare you. Their Manitoba Tel (MBT-T) was excellent. Safe dividend yield of about 4.5%.
Trimmed half his position 2 years ago. Considers this to more of a utility rather than a growth stock. The recent Manitoba Tel (MBT-T) will bode well for them and their dividend. Payout ratio is fairly high. The dividend goes up every year. They are going to have to find some avenue to continue the growth of the dividend.
Whatever the trends are in the US, they are coming up here. AT&T (T-N) customers are getting rid of land lines, and this action will impact BCE. However, the company is a great growth story. They have positioned themselves very well in wireless. Have also added content. Good yield. When you want safety and income, this is a better Buy today than Canadian banks, with the risk of housing markets and energy.
Canadian rates are staggeringly high compared to other jurisdictions. Despite many governments promising they were going to introduce competition in the sector, nobody has successfully done that. He doesn’t own this because he feels that someday there may be price competition of a real sort, but then again, maybe not.
The issue with the telco industry at this stage is that you have a new entrant on the wireless side coming in. You are also facing a lot of pressure on the cable side with the people going over the top, etc. The industry is facing some serious headwinds. He has been reducing his exposure to the sector. However, if you have to be in this sector and you want very low risk, this is probably the name to have. They have a decent strategy and are deriving very visible and stable growth. The dividend will continue to grow at a slow pace, but you have good visibility on it.