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BCE Inc is known by the ticker symbol BCE and is a member of the communication services business sector as a large-cap telecom services enterprise. This is my first report on BCE inc for this Vista portfolio but BCE was selected for one of my previous dog of the week portfolios.

BCE is both a wireless and Internet service provider, offering wireless, broadband, television, and landline phone services in Canada. 

It is one of the big three national wireless carriers, with its roughly 10 million customers constituting about 30% of the market. It is also the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier--the legacy telephone provider) throughout much of the eastern half of Canada, including in the most populous Canadian provinces--Ontario and Quebec. 

Additionally, BCE has a media segment, which holds television, radio, and digital media assets. BCE licenses the Canadian rights to movie channels including HBO, Showtime, and Starz. 

In 2020, the wireline segment accounted for 55% of total EBITDA, while wireless composed 38% and media provided the remainder

The company owns and operates approximately 35 conventional TV stations; 27 specialty and four Pay TV channels; 3 direct-to-consumer streaming services; 109 licensed radio stations; and websites. 

The company was formerly known as Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. BCE Inc. was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Verdun, Canada.

Three key data points gauge dividend equities or funds like BCE Inc:

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Those three basic keys best tell whether any company has made, is making, and will make money. 

BCE Price

BCE Inc's price per share was $49.80 as of Friday's market close. One year ago its price was $40.58. So BCE price has gained over 22.7% in the past year. 

If BCE's stock trades in the range of $40 to $55.00 this next year, its recent $49.80 price might rise by $1.50 to reach $51.30 by July 12, 2022. My estimate is about $0.02 lower than the median of 18 annual price upside estimates from analysts tracking BCE for brokerages. 

BCE Dividends

BCE's most recent regular quarterly dividend payout of nearly $0.72 is payable Thursday, July 15, 2021, and projects a $2.88 annual payout yielding 5.78% based on Friday's $49.80 closing price. BCE has paid variable quarterly dividends increasing annually for 6 years.

BCE Returns

Adding the $2.88 annual BCE forward-looking dividend to my $1.50 price upside estimate shows a $4.38 potential gross gain, per share, to be reduced by any costs to trade BCE Inc shares.  

At Friday's $49.80 price per share, a little under $1000 would buy 20 shares.

A $10 broker fee (if charged) would be paid half at purchase and half at a sale and might cost us about $0.50 per share.

Subtract that maybe $0.50 brokerage cost from my estimated $4.38 gross gain per share results in a net gain of $3.88 X 20 shares = $77.60 for a 7.8% net gain on a $996.00 investment.

So it is that BCE Inc shows a possible 7.8% net gain including a 5.78% forward estimated dividend yield. 

Over the next year at this time, a $1000 investment in BCE could generate $57.80 in cash dividends alone. And a single share bought at yesterday's closing price was $49.80! Thus, BCE's share price is about $8,00 less than the dividend income from $1K invested. So, according to the dividend dogcatcher ideal, this is the prime time to pick up BCE because the dividend from $1k invested exceeds the single share price by over about 14%. Consider yourself alerted.

All of the estimates above are speculation based on the past history of BCE Inc. Only time and money invested in this stock will determine its true worth.