National BankAhead of third-quarter earnings season, National Bank Financial analyst Adam Shine lowered his financial forecast and target prices for shares of Canada’s three largest telecommunications companies. Mr. Shine sees “solid” demand for Telus Corp.’s wireless offerings and touted the benefits from increased roaming rates and price strategies
He’s forecasting revenue of $4.681-billion, up 10.1 per cent year-over-year and above the consensus of $4.598-billion. Adjusted earnings per share projected to jump 14.1 per cent to 33 cents, matching the Street’s view.
Predicting a dividend raise of 3.5 per cent, he cut his target to $34 from $36 with an “outperform” rating. The average is $34.10.
“The $2 target reduction was due to removal of 3500 MHz spectrum licences from our NAV/DCF as done for peers. While starting to target LifeWorks synergies ($200M next 3-5 yrs), T expects a step down in capex post-2022 and will begin realizing benefits of copper decommissioning,” he said.