Investment Q&A

Q: If BCE profit is dropping and is laying people off, why did they raise the dividend today? ( according to tmx money) Does this show they are confident in the future ?

Q: Hello. What caused the sudden drop in the price of BCE? Thanks

Q: Park Lawn, BCE and BEP taking a tidy beating in the wife’s income portfolio. While we enjoy the divs, the red ink is off-putting to be fair.

We are a few years away from drawing on her account, so at what point would you consider averaging down on these. There is a fairly large cash balance waiting to be deployed.

Q: While you may not see much growth in Bell for the near future, is this not a rare opportunity for a dividend/income investor to lock in an 8%+ dividend in a secure company?

Am I missing something?

Q: Hi, BCE shares have been hammered for past few weeks with stock making new 52 weeks lows everyday, with market fearing that company could cut or not be able to keep pace with dividend increases, due to pressure on its cash flow. Company has a large debt load and yesterday the Rating Agency placed BCE on a negative watch, which makes it more expensive for BCE to borrow. Pay out ratio is already over 100% of its earnings. Current dividend yield of 8.5% could be viewed as flashing warning signals.

BCE is held in 5i Income Portfolio and generally rated well, per your recent comments. Are you still comfortable to hold it in Income Portfolio ? Also, if income is not the primary objective for an investor, is it not prudent to liquidate even at current price and move on to other opportunities with lower dividend and better growth?

Thank You

Q: Lots of comments around that there may not be a lot of upside to the Telcos. And we know that covererd call etfs`s also have built-in limited upside. Any thoughts on swapping Telus for a covered call etf for income?

Q: Your thoughts on the high payout ratio for Bce??
Thx

Q: Looking to raise some money. In what order would you sell these with your reasons.
Thanks. ram

Q: Hi there,

I hold a significant number of shares of BCE mostly for the income in a diversified portfolio.

I know in the past few weeks you have discussed the health of their dividend and don’t seem too concerned. To the contrary there are an increasingly large number of pundits who believe they cannot keep the pace of their present dividend and therefore must cut it. They talk about the various ways to measure it albeit as percentage of fcf or EBITDA or whatever but they just don’t have the fcf anymore due to these high capital expenditures sucking the life out of it.

Can you possibly dig into the math on this and give us the true picture? Maybe lower interest rates on the horizon will help with this problem? Or BCE goes the way of AQN, cuts their div and the stock drops like a rock? Been there done that with AQN and wondering if I should just reduce my holdings accordingly and find another way to make up the income.

Ok thanks a lot!

Q: What do you think of BCE as of late being that their dividend payout is sitting at 160% of earnings and their growth is slowing?

Do you think a dividend cut is in the offing down the road or would they risk the share price hit on that move?

Q: If you have to invest new money today with a 3/5 years view (appreciation + dividend), which one will be your choice, Superior or Bell?

Q: These 4 'blue chip' stocks (BCE, TRP, ENB, BNS) pay healthy dividends, but basically are trading where they were 10 years ago. If you were to look out 5 years, how would you rank them best to worst, in terms of how much their share price will increase from today....Thanks...Glenn

Q: I've held this stock for the longest time and it keeps going down ? I'm now down 28 % ! I've recently heard that they might be cutting their dividend and I'm not sure that I should keep hanging on ? What say you, sell or hold ?

Q: My PA wants me in telecom. I had Telus but it dropped heavy and I harvested losses, investing in BCE only to continue down. I realize higher interest rates are a challenge for telcos and utilities. It there a case for any of the of Canadian telecoms? I have a long term investment horizon but do like safe dividends. Are the telcos dividends "safe"?Should I hold BCE or flee for another company, even in the US. (I have VZ, also in the down elevator, bigly). thanks, al

Q: In the past you had a slight preference for BCE over Telus in terms of a long term investment. After the latest results from the 2 companies, do you still have a preference for BCE?

Q: For a RRIF would you be a buyer of either of these companies now. If so which would you prefer.
Also can you suggest 3 or 4 other dividend paying stocks as well. Thank you.

Q: Compare and contrast BCE and Telus’s results.

Q: Sorry for another question about BCE. I'm surprised that the generally good results and the workforce reduction initiatives they announced today aren't having a positive effect on the share price. In fact, at this moment, it's down 4.24%. Your assessment? Thanks!

Q: In light of the announced layoffs, will Bce cut dividends as well?

Q: This is for a 2 year hold. I am 15% down on BCE. I also see stocks like SMCI crushing it.

For total growth of 50% over 2 years, which do you prefer?

FYI in Feb 2024, I am seeing articles on BCE such as:

https://mila.quebec/en/bell-and-mila-to-study-how-deep-learning-ai-can-improve-business-performance/

and this:

https://business.bell.ca/shop/medium-large/resource/bell-collaborates-microsoft-hybrid-work-solutions?INT=BBM_bbmhmpg_TXT___020624_VS_COM_banner-microsoft-news