Analyst Recommendations and Financial Results for BCE, Air Canada, and Boralex: Impact on Stock Prices

2023-09-27 15:37:26

BCE will reveal its next quarterly financial results on November 2. (Photo: LesAffaires.com)

What to do with the securities of BCE, Air Canada and Boralex? Here are some analyst recommendations likely to move prices soon. Note: the author may have an opinion completely different from that expressed.

BCE (BCE, $52.08): landline telephony will affect 3rd quarter performance

BCE will reveal its third quarter results on November 2 and Adam Shine of National Bank Financial is slightly more pessimistic than analysts’ consensus about the communications services company’s performance during the period.

“We anticipate revenues of $6.1 billion, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $2.67 billion, adjusted earnings per share of $0.78 and free cash flow. of 807 million dollars (M$),” he wrote.

Analysts’ consensus is for revenues of $6.19B, EBITDA of $2.69B, adjusted earnings per share of $0.84 and free cash flow of $1.04B.

The analyst says that his weaker forecasts than those of the consensus result from the fact that he anticipates a decline in revenues over one year in wireline telephony, which had been robust a year ago.

“The EBITDA of the Bell Communications and Technology Services (Bell SCT) division should also be eaten up by various investments to improve its operational efficiency, such as the implementation of the cloud computing strategy, a single billing platform, “artificial intelligence and self-service functions,” he explains.

Adam Shine expects Bell SCT’s revenue and EBITDA to climb 1.7% and 2.9%, respectively, in the third quarter. For Bell Media, he expects revenues to fall by 2%, but EBITDA to grow by 4.5%.

He specifies, however, that strong immigration to the country will allow BCE to add to its number of subscribers, without this increasing the average revenue per user, which could even decrease somewhat, due to the slowdown in growth of subscribers. roaming charges, promotions and the sale of packages including large volumes of data. It forecasts increases of 23,000 and 160,000 subscribers to the company’s prepaid and postpaid mobile services, respectively.

“We do not anticipate a reduction in the dividend and are waiting until February to see how much it will be increased,” adds the analyst who maintains his purchase recommendation on BCE shares, as well as his one-year target price of $60.