(Bloomberg) — Shares of BCE Inc. tumbled to the lowest in more than a decade and Rogers Communications Inc. suffered its biggest drop of 2024 after BMO Capital Markets published a darker outlook on Canada’s telecom sector.
Analyst Tim Casey slashed his price target on Rogers to C$65, from C$80, and downgraded BCE and Quebecor Inc. Those three companies, along with Telus Corp., are the dominant players in the country’s wireless and cable industry.
The prominent telecommunications analyst expects growing competition and lower cable revenue to pressure Rogers’ core sales through the third quarter. Meanwhile, in the province of Quebec, a price battle has erupted between BCE and Quebecor, which is pressuring margins.
BCE fell 2.5% to C$44.74 as of 2 p.m. in Toronto, the lowest intraday level since October 2013. Rogers and Quebecor were both down about 3%.
Rogers’ drop comes almost a year to the day since it closed its landmark acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc., Telus’s main competitor in a number of markets in Western Canada.
Some analysts have been bullish on Rogers because of that deal, arguing that with significant cost-savings efforts, the merger will fuel a significant jump in cash flow from its cable and internet business lines. But tougher competition is taking a bite out of cable revenue, Casey wrote, as he chopped his EBITDA forecast for Rogers by about 7% for this year and 6% for next year.
Casey cut BCE and Quebecor to market perform from outperform, expecting the competitive environment to lead to a slower growth outlook for both companies.
(Updates share movements beginning in the first paragraph.)
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