The second largest Canadian telecommunications company
Telus Corporation
(
TU
) reported third-quarter 2012 adjusted earnings per ADS of $1.07
(C$1.08 per share), which fell short of the Zacks Consensus
Estimate of $1.09. Adjusted earnings increased 7% from C$1.00 per
share registered in the year-ago quarter.
Total revenue grew 5.8% year over year to C$2.81 billion
($2.78 billion) and also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate
of $2.74 billion. The year-over-year increase was buoyed by
higher revenues from wireless and wireline data services.
Adjusted EBITDA upped 5.2% year over year to C$1.02 billion
($1.03 billion).
Segment Results
Wireless revenues rose 7.4% year over year to C$1.5 billion
($1.51 billion) in the reported quarter driven by higher
subscriber and ARPU growth.
Within network revenue, data revenue jumped 23% year over year
on continued strong adoption of smartphones and related data
plans, increased mobile Internet devices and tablets, and higher
data roaming revenues. Voice revenue slid 2.2% year over year,
due to falling voice average revenue per user (ARPU).
In the third quarter, ARPU grew 1.5% year over year to C$61.42
($61.98), primarily attributable to higher data ARPU (up 17.3%
year over year) negated by lower voice ARPU (down 6.8%) to some
extent. The monthly subscriber churn (customer switch) improved
to 1.44% from 1.67% in the year-ago quarter on the back of
high-value client retention and lower smartphone churn.
Quarterly, net wireless subscriber addition was 111,000,
reflecting a decline of 2.6% from the year-ago quarter. Telus
lost 5,000 net prepaid customers in the third quarter compared
with a net loss of 19,000 in the year-ago quarter. Additionally,
net post-paid subscriber addition was 116,000 in the quarter,
representing an annualized decline of 12.8%.
Telus had 7.56 million wireless subscribers, including 6.42
million post-paid customers and $1.14 million prepaid customers
at the end of the reported quarter.
Wireline revenues nudged up 3.9% year over year to C$1.32
billion ($1.33 billion) in the reported quarter due to strong
growth in data services and equipment revenue, partially
compensated by lower voice local, voice long distance and other
services and equipment revenues.
Data and equipment revenue climbed 14.4% year over year to
C$737 million ($743.7 million) owing to healthy TV subscriber
growth, higher rates, enhanced Internet and data services, and
increased data equipment sales.
Voice local revenues fell 7.4% year over year to C$351 million
($354.2 million) while voice long-distance revenue dropped 11.2%
to C$103 million ($103.9 million), hurt by lower revenues from
basic access, ongoing industry-wide price competition, shift to
wireless and Internet-based services, and declining residential
access lines.
During the quarter, Telus added 42,000 TV subscribers to reach
a total of 637,000 customers (up 40.6% year over year). The
massive growth can be credited to the ongoing success of the
Optik TV brand, improved installation, enhanced service and
expanded broadband coverage. Net high-speed Internet subscriber
additions were 26,000, bringing the total number of customers at
the end of the third quarter to 1.3 million. The upside was
driven by the success of Optik TV and Optik high-speed Internet
service launched in June 2010, as well as enhanced competitive
offers.
Liquidity
Telus ended the third quarter with cash and investments of
C$45 million compared with C$46 million at the end of fiscal
2011. Net debt reduced to C$5.2 billion compared with C$5.5
billion at the end of 2011. Net debt to EBITDA (excluding
restructuring costs) declined to 1.7 times from 1.8 times in the
year-ago quarter and was within the company's long-term target
range of 1.5−2 times.
Telus generated free cash flow of C$426 million, exhibiting an
annualized growth of 23.5%. Capital expenditure edged up 0.2%
year over year to C$471 million in the third quarter.
Guidance
Based on year-to-date results and the favorable outlook for
the balance of the year, Telus raised its fiscal 2012 guidance.
The company now expects consolidated revenue to grow in the range
of 3-6% to $10.75-$11.05 billion, EBITDA to increase 3-7% to
$3.9-$4.05 billion and earnings per share to grow 0-10% to
$3.75-$4.15. Capital expenditure is expected to be approximately
$1.95 billion.
Telus expects wireless revenues to grow 5-8% to C$5.75-C$5.9
billion and EBITDA to grow 10-14% to C$2.4-C$2.5 billion for
2012. For the wireline segment, Telus expects revenue to grow
1-4% to C$5.0-C$5.15 billion and EBITDA to decline 3-6% to
C$1.5-C$1.55 billion.
Our Take
We believe the company's ongoing investments in the expansion
of LTE and internet data centers will fuel strong future growth
leading to more opportunities in wireless and cloud computing
businesses. Likewise, in the wireline front, Telus continues to
focus on the efficiency of the Optik TV and Optik High Speed
Internet broadband services, which remains its strong part of
operation.
Nevertheless, persistent erosion in access lines in the
wireline segment and weak voice services in wireless might weigh
on the company's future earnings. Further, a weak Canadian
economy, competitive threats from players such as Rogers
Communication (
RCI
) and BCE Inc. (
BCE
), and reduced roaming charges keep us on the sidelines.
We are currently maintaining our long-term Neutral
recommendation on Telus. For the short term (1-3 months), the
stock retains a Zacks #3 (Hold) Rank.
BCE INC (BCE): Free Stock Analysis Report
ROGERS COMM CLB (RCI): Free Stock Analysis
Report
TELUS CORP (TU): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment
Research