When one of the most popular dividend stocks suddenly starts losing value month after month, it’s hard not to wonder what’s going on. That’s especially true when the company is TELUS (TSX: T), a familiar dividend-payer on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
In this article, I’ll explore what a $5,000 investment in TELUS stock today could potentially become over the next five years.
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TELUS stock
In short, this Vancouver-based telecommunications giant provides mobile, internet, and digital services across Canada. Its operations also extend into healthcare technology and digital customer experience solutions.
TELUS stock has lost nearly 38% of its value over the last year to currently trade at $12.63 per share, giving the company a market cap of $20.1 billion. At this market price, it offers an attractive annualized dividend yield of 5.9%.
The recent weakness in TELUS shares largely reflects concerns about intense pricing competition, slower customer growth, and pressure on profitability. Adding to these concerns, the company reduced its quarterly dividend by 55% in July to $0.19 per share to free up cash for debt repayment.
What’s going well for TELUS financially?
In the third quarter of 2026, TELUS posted a 1% year-over-year (YoY) decline in consolidated service revenue to $4.5 billion, mainly due to weakness in its digital business, partially offset by improving trends in its core telecom operations. It also posted a net loss of $660 million, largely reflecting an $800 million non-cash goodwill impairment related to TELUS Health.
However, not everything in its latest earnings report was disappointing. TELUS’s mobile network revenue rose 1% YoY, backed by 84,000 net new mobile phone customers. Its average revenue per user also remained stable at $57.22, while mobile phone churn improved to a three-year low of 1%.
Why TELUS could recover over the next five years
For investors considering TELUS stock today, the company’s ongoing efforts to improve its financial health could be a key reason to remain optimistic about its long-term outlook.
For example, TELUS wants to bring its net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) ratio down from 3.6 times at the end of September 2026 to about 3.0 times or lower by the end of 2028. Its recent dividend reduction alone could save roughly $2.7 billion through 2028, which the company plans to direct toward debt reduction.
Beyond that, TELUS is advancing plans to sell non-core businesses, with TELUS Health and TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods among its near-term priorities. The company also recently announced a multi-year efficiency program targeting approximately $900 million in annualized cash savings by the end of 2028.
At the same time, its continued investments in core telecom operations and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure could back profitable growth in the coming years.
Given these efforts, I believe TELUS could be an attractive recovery stock for long-term investors willing to look past its recent challenges.
What could $5,000 in TELUS stock become in five years?
Now, let’s see how a $5,000 investment in TELUS could grow over the next five years, even without assuming any increase in its share price. At its current market price of $12.63 per share, you could buy about 395 TELUS shares for $4,988.85. Based on its revised annual dividend of $0.75 per share, these shares could generate about $296 in yearly dividend income.
If TELUS maintains this dividend over the next five years, you could collect about $1,481 in total cash dividends without reinvesting them.
Even if its share price remains unchanged during this period, the combined value of your shares and accumulated dividends could reach $6,470. Any meaningful recovery in TELUS stock could push your total returns even higher.
That’s why I believe TELUS stock could reward patient investors who are willing to hold the stock for the next five years.
