BCE Inc. BCE reported second-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of C$0.78 (57 cents), down 1.3% year over year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at 59 cents.
Quarterly total operating revenues fell 1% year over year to C$6,005 million ($4,388.9 million). The consensus estimate was pegged at $4,459.7 million. The contraction resulted from an 8.7% decrease in Product revenues, which totaled C$697 million, amid 0.1% growth in Service revenues, which came in at C$5,308 million.
BCE, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
BCE, Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | BCE, Inc. Quote
Segmental Results
The company has combined its Bell Wireless and Bell Wireline operating segments to form a segment called Bell CTS. BCE now reports its segment results under Bell CTS and Bell Media.
Bell CTS’ operating revenues dipped 1.3% year over year to C$5,283 million due to soft demand trends in product revenue.
Within Bell CTS segment, Service revenue fell 0.1% to C$4,586 million, hurt by ongoing declines in legacy services but bolstered by growth in mobile phone and business solutions services.
Product revenues were down $66 million, which represented 93% of the 1.3% fall in total revenues. The downside was mainly due to reduced sales of mobile phones with 70% of new activations on BYOD. This was further hampered by revenue loss from The Source and declining business wireline data product sales, post supply chain recovery in 2023.
Postpaid mobile phone net subscriber activations were 78,500, down 29.5% year over year. The number of postpaid mobile phone net subscriber activations decreased owing to rising mobile phone postpaid customer churn driven by growing competitive market activity and promotional offers on postpaid plans. This was partly balanced by higher gross subscriber activations, continued 5G and multi-product bundling momentum and effective promotions.
Prepaid mobile phone net subscriber activations were 52,543, up 268.5% year over year. The primary driver behind the expansion was a 19.9% rise in gross activations due to augmented retail distribution and effective Lucky Mobile marketing strategies coupled with a lower customer churn rate, which jumped 8 basis points to 4.60%.
Bell Media generated revenues of C$812 million, increasing 0.9% year over year. The uptick was the result of a 1.9% rise in advertising revenues driven by solid TV sports specialty performance along with continued strength in digital advertising. The F1 Canadian Grand Prix and increasing international sales of Bell Media programming contributed to this revenue performance. The acquisition of OUTFRONT Media in June 2024 was another tailwind.
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Other Details
Adjusted EBITDA in the reported quarter grew 2% to C$2,697 million, driven by a 2% increase at Bell CTS and a 1.9% rise at Bell Media.
The adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 44.9%, up from 43.6% in the prior-year quarter, reflecting operational efficiencies and cost management.
Cash Flow
BCE generated C$2,137 million of cash from operating activities compared with C$2,365 million in the prior-year quarter. The free cash flow was C$1,097 million compared with C$1016 million a year ago due to higher cash flows from operating activities.
2024 Guidance
BCE reiterated its financial outlook for 2024. It expects revenues to stay flat to grow 4% and adjusted EBITDA growth between 1.5% and 4.5%.
Free cash flow growth is projected to be in the band of (3)-(11)%. The annualized common dividend per share is estimated to be C$3.99.
Zacks Rank
BCE currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Performance of Other Companies
BlackBerry’s BB first-quarter fiscal 2025 adjusted loss per share of 3 cents was narrower than the company’s estimate of a loss of 4-6 cents. In the year-ago quarter, it reported non-GAAP earnings of 6 cents per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at a loss of 4 cents per share.
Shares of BB have lost 51.8% in the past year.
Badger Meter, Inc BMI reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.12 for second-quarter 2024, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 14.3%. Also, the bottom line compared favorably with the year-ago quarter’s EPS of 76 cents.
Shares of BMI have gained 23.5% in the past year.
SAP SE SAP reported second-quarter 2024 non-IFRS earnings of €1.10 ($1.18) per share, climbing 59% from the year-ago quarter’s levels. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at $1.01.
In the past year, shares of SAP have gained 55.5%.
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