Analyzing BCE (BCE) & Its Rivals

BCE (NYSE:BCE) is one of 203 public companies in the “Diversified Telecommunication Services” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare BCE to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

41.5% of BCE shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.5% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of BCE shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 18.3% of shares of all “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

BCE has a beta of 0.54, meaning that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BCE’s competitors have a beta of -4.90, meaning that their average share price is 590% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

BCE pays an annual dividend of $1.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.2%. BCE pays out 25.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies pay a dividend yield of 14.0% and pay out 33.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for BCE and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BCE	0	5	7	0	2.58
BCE Competitors	1751	5337	7752	383	2.44

BCE presently has a consensus target price of $29.00, indicating a potential upside of 42.30%. As a group, “Diversified Telecommunication Services” companies have a potential upside of 20.98%. Given BCE’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe BCE is more favorable than its competitors.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares BCE and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
BCE	$17.51 billion	$4.62 billion	4.17
BCE Competitors	$12.26 billion	$893.66 million	-167.74

BCE has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. BCE is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares BCE and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BCE	25.49%	12.90%	3.25%
BCE Competitors	-12.05%	-217.37%	-3.35%

Summary

BCE beats its competitors on 12 of the 15 factors compared.

About BCE

BCE Inc., a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers. This segment also buys and sells local telephone, long distance, and data and other services from or to resellers and other carriers; and operates consumer electronics retail stores. The Bell Media segment provides conventional TV, specialty TV, pay TV, streaming services, digital media services, radio broadcasting services, and out-of-home advertising services. BCE Inc. was founded in 1880 and is headquartered in Verdun, Canada.