Financial Contrast: BCE (NYSE:BCE) vs. Rogers Communication (NYSE:RCI)

BCE (NYSE:BCE) and Rogers Communication (NYSE:RCI) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for BCE and Rogers Communication, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BCE	4	7	2	1	2.00
Rogers Communication	1	3	2	0	2.17

BCE currently has a consensus price target of $32.50, suggesting a potential upside of 39.88%. Rogers Communication has a consensus price target of $33.00, suggesting a potential downside of 6.19%. Given BCE’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe BCE is more favorable than Rogers Communication.

Dividends

BCE pays an annual dividend of $1.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Rogers Communication pays an annual dividend of $1.45 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. BCE pays out 437.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Rogers Communication pays out 72.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares BCE and Rogers Communication’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BCE	1.96%	18.89%	3.74%
Rogers Communication	7.33%	21.59%	3.72%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

41.5% of BCE shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.5% of Rogers Communication shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of BCE shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.0% of Rogers Communication shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

BCE has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rogers Communication has a beta of 0.78, indicating that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares BCE and Rogers Communication”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
BCE	$17.82 billion	1.22	$251.05 million	$0.29	80.12
Rogers Communication	$20.80 billion	0.91	$1.27 billion	$2.01	17.50

Rogers Communication has higher revenue and earnings than BCE. Rogers Communication is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BCE, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Rogers Communication beats BCE on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Rogers Communication

Rogers Communications Inc. operates as a communications and media company in Canada. It operates through three segments: Wireless, Cable, and Media. The company offers mobile Internet access, wireless voice and enhanced voice, device financing, device protection, global voice and data roaming, wireless home phone, bridging landline, machine-to-machine and Internet of Things solutions, and advanced wireless solutions for businesses, as well as device shipping and express pickup services; and postpaid and prepaid services under the Rogers, Fido, and chatr brands. It also provides internet and WiFi services; and monitoring, security, automation, energy efficiency, and smart control through smartphone app. In addition, the company offers local and network TV; on-demand television; cloud-based digital video recorders; voice-activated remote controls, and integrated apps; personal video recorders; linear and time-shifted programming; digital specialty channels; and 4K television programming. Further, it provides residential and small business local telephony services; voicemail, call waiting, and long distance; voice, data networking, Internet protocol (IP), and Ethernet services; private networking, Internet, IP voice, and cloud solutions; optical wave and multi-protocol label switching services; information technology and network technologies; cable access network services; telecommunications technical consulting services; and season games through television, smartphones, tablets, personal computers, and other streaming devices, as well as operates Ignite TV and Ignite TV app. Additionally, the company owns Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre event venue; and operates Sportsnet ONE, Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet World, Citytv, OMNI, FX (Canada), FXX (Canada), and OLN television networks, as well as 52 AM and FM radio stations. It also offers Rogers and the Rogers World Elite Mastercard. The company was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.