BCE Inc 2

I am continuing my review this stock (TSX-BCE) today as I was asked to. I have updated my spreadsheet for the latest published financial statements of March 2009. I have had this stock since 1982 and it is difficult to determine what profit I have made on this stock. I have only tracked this stock in Quicken since 1 January 1988. Because of the separation of Nortel, it is difficult to track what I have made. However, putting both stocks together, I have made a return of 9.7% since 1988 on this and Nortel stock. After getting Nortel from Bell, I sold ½ at $85 and ½ at $2.57.

This stock is in the Telecom industry and that industry considered to be a tough place to make money. However, a lot of people have faith in the current management installed by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan when they were going to take this company private. I also like to look at Insider Buying and Insider Selling. There is very little of either going on over the past year, so we learn nothing here. However, the CEO and CFO have increased their investments in this company, while other officers’ and directors have decreased theirs.

In looking at the spreadsheet ratios, the current yield of 6.3% is better than the 5 year average of 4.8%. The P/E ratio currently at 10 is better than the 5 year average of 15 and the 5 year low average of 12.8. Also, the current Price/Book Value ratio is less and 80% of the 10 year average. The last thing to mention is the Graham Price is almost 30% above the current price. All these things point to a good current price.

There are Strong Buy ratings, Buy ratings and Hold ratings on this stock. The consensus rating would probably be a Buy. (See my site for information on analyst ratings.)

In looking at the charts, I compared this stock to the TSX index and the Utility Index. Except for the YTD period, both these indexes have done better than this stock. The one thing that is very noticeable in these charts is that this stock had a huge run up, probably due to Nortel, in the last bull market and it heavily crashed when that bubble blew (about 1999/2000).

BCE Inc. is a communications company. BCE provides local telephone, long distance, wireless communications, internet access, data, video and other services to residential and business customers. Its web site is www.bce.ca. See my spreadsheet at www.spbrunner.com/stocks/bce.htm.

This blog is meant for educational purposes only, and is not to provide investment advice. Before making any investment decision, you should always do your own research or consult an investment professional. See my website at www.spbrunner.com/stocks.html for a list of the stocks for which I have put up spreadsheets.