Telus Posts Lower 1Q Profit, Raises Quarterly Dividend

Telus Corp (T) revenue increased 9% in its first quarter, but profit fell almost 6% from a year ago. The national telecom company reported 31,000 net additions of mobile customers and 51,000 fixed customers, thanks in part to the Telus’ PureFibre service.

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Telus’ revenue came in at C$4.02 billion for the quarter ended March 31, up 9% from C$3.69 billion in the prior-year quarter.

Profit was C$333 million (C$0.25 per share) in the first quarter of 2021, a decrease of 5.7% from C$353 million (C$0.28 per share) in the same quarter last year. After adjusting for restructuring and other costs, Telus’ earnings came in at C$0.27 per share in 1Q 2021, down from C$0.32 per share in 1Q 2020. In addition, Telus raised its quarterly dividend to C$0.3162 per share, up 8.6% from the prior year.

Telus’ Executive Vice-president and CFO Doug French said, “Our first-quarter results announced today demonstrate the resiliency of our business, our leading execution, and the critical importance of providing world-leading broadband experiences along with superior bundled solutions. These results are further enhanced by the strength and diversity of our fast-growing asset mix centered around higher-valued technology-oriented sectors. In that regard, our TELUS International, TELUS Health, and TELUS Agriculture assets all delivered strong revenue growth driven in part by recent acquisitions, as well as organic growth, as those businesses successfully drive new customer growth.” (See Telus Corp stock analysis on TipRanks)

Earlier this week, RBC Capital analyst Drew Mcreynolds reiterated a Buy rating on the stock with a C$30.00 price target (14.2% upside potential).

Overall, the consensus on the Street is that Telus is a Strong Buy based on 9 Buys and 2 Holds. The average analyst price target of C$31.37 implies an upside potential of about 19.3% to current levels. Shares have jumped by approximately 15% over one year.