New and old investors of Telus Corporation (TSX:T)(NYSE:TU) were not phased that the stock staying relatively flat when the telecommunications giant announced its Q1 earnings. While the company saw a 2.6% increase in operating revenues year over year, its earnings were the same and actually missed expectations by a penny.
The earnings would have been even worse had the company not been buying back shares, reducing the average number of outstanding shares to 594 million and effectively keeping the EPS constant year over year.
The increase in revenue can be attributed to the fact that it had a 1.5% increase in subscriber connections to 12.44 million. In its wireless division, which had a 1.2% increase in subscribers, it was also able to increase its revenue per subscriber by 1.2% to $63.06. Anytime a company can increase how much it earns per subscriber, it’s a good sign.
But all in all, this wasn’t a dynamite quarter for the company.
While this sort of stagnant earnings growth might worry investors, I wouldn’t be too concerned. Telus is a stalwart type of investment; it pays its dividend, it buys back shares, and it generates consistent revenue year after year. While it’s not a get-rich-quick kind of stock, there is one primary reason why I believe investors should still consider buying this company.
It is incredibly shareholder friendly. There are two ways that a company can help investors make money. The first is to make small investments in its business, allowing it to grow and gobble up more potential earnings. The second is to send money back to shareholders either through a dividend or a share buyback, which effectively reduces the total number of shares, increasing the earnings per share.
Recognizing that growth might not be as significant going forward, Telus has been getting aggressive with sending cash back to investors. Along with the report of its earnings, the company also announced that it was increasing its dividend by 4.5% to $0.46 per share. This 4.61% yield is incredibly lucrative but very safe. More importantly, it announced that it would be increasing the dividend by 7-10% every year between 2017 and 2019. This continues a legacy of 12 consecutive years of increasing dividends.
But it doesn’t stop there … Telus is also continuing to decrease the total number of outstanding shares, making each investor who doesn’t sell a bigger owner in the company. Telus intends to purchase up to $250 million in shares between 2017 and 2019.
While growth at the company might be slowing down, its ability to distribute money to investors is still very strong. I fully expect that the company will continue to increase its dividend to follow the slow and steady growth it is experiencing. Telus won’t ever make you an instant millionaire; however, if you’re looking for a stock that will help you sleep well at night and pay you consistent quarterly dividends that will grow, you can’t be faulted for buying this stock.
