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TELUS Posts Y/Y Flat Q1 Earnings, Solid Health Unit Aids Revenues

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TELUS Corporation (TU - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of C$0.26, flat year over year.

Quarterly total operating revenues increased 3% from a year ago to C$5,057 million owing to strong revenue growth across all the segments.

Starting from the first quarter of 2025, TELUS introduced a separate TELUS Health segment, previously part of TTech, which will now be reported alongside TTech (excluding Health) and TELUS Digital.

The company’s operating revenues (from contracts with customers) were C$5,018 million, up 3% year over year. TELUS reported 218,000 net customer additions in the first quarter, up 9,000, driven by solid demand for its premium bundled offerings delivered over advanced and high-value broadband networks. This includes strong mobile phone and connected device additions of 168,000 and 50,000 total fixed customers.

TELUS’ board declared a quarterly dividend of C$0.4163 per share, payable on July 2, 2025, to shareholders of record as of June 10, 2025, a 7% increase from the prior year, in line with its multi-year dividend growth plan. TELUS aims to grow its annual dividend by 3% to 8% from 2026 through 2028.

(See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

Quarterly Segmental Results

In the first quarter, TTech revenues and other income rose 2% year over year to C$3,883 million. TTech operating revenues (arising from contracts with customers) increased 2% year over year to $3,838 million.

This was driven by mobile equipment and other service revenues, fixed data service revenues, fixed equipment and service revenues, as well as agriculture and consumer goods services.

Mobile network revenues decreased 1% year over year to C$1,732 million due to a decline in mobile phone ARPU, partially offset by higher mobile phone subscriber count and strength in IoT connections.

Mobile equipment and other service revenues increased 9% to C$524 million, driven by a greater proportion of higher-value smartphones in the sales mix, though slightly tempered by a reduction in contracted volumes.

Fixed data service revenues increased 3% to C$1,192 million, supported by an expanding subscriber base across Internet, security and automation, and TV services, along with higher revenue per customer for Internet and security and automation. This was partially offset by a decline in TV revenue per customer due to a shift toward smaller TV bundles and technological substitution.

Fixed voice services revenues declined 5% year over year to C$170 million as a result of the ongoing fall in legacy voice revenues due to technological substitution and evolving consumer preferences. The decrease was partly offset by the success of bundled product offerings and the company’s retention efforts.

Fixed equipment and other service revenues grew 4% to C$122 million, primarily due to increased sales of security premises equipment.

TELUS Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

TELUS Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

TELUS Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | TELUS Corporation Quote

Agriculture and consumer goods services revenues increased 20% year over year to C$98 million, driven by business acquisitions, strong organic growth in consumer goods services, and favorable foreign exchange impacts. This was partly offset by a decline in animal agriculture solutions.

The segment’s adjusted EBITDA of C$1,649 million increased 3% year over year, owing to cost-reduction efforts, subscriber growth, asset sales and stronger margins, but lower ARPU, rising costs and weaker legacy and equipment margins partly offset these.

TELUS Health’s operating revenues and other income revenues increased 12% year over year to C$473 million, driven by strong health services revenues. Health services revenues increased 13% year over year to C$470 million, driven by global business acquisitions in employer solutions, strong performance in payvider services and virtual pharmacy, and continued expansion in retirement and benefits solutions. Health equipment revenues fell 75% to C$1 million, mainly due to a one-time boost in the prior period from a pharmacy hardware upgrade in the payvider segment.

TELUS Health’s adjusted EBITDA grew 30% to C$76 million, driven by revenue growth, cost reductions and acquisition synergies. These were partly offset by higher indirect costs from recent acquisitions and scaling of digital capabilities, including increased spending on licences, contractors and cloud services.

TELUS Digital's operating revenues (arising from contracts with customers) increased 4% to C$709 million, driven by a stronger U.S. dollar and euro against the Canadian dollar, boosting TELUS Digital’s results. Growth in services to existing clients and the addition of new clients also aided it. These were partly offset by lower revenues from some technology and e-commerce clients, including Google.

TELUS Digital's operating revenues and other income grew 4% to C$962 million. The segment’s adjusted EBITDA of C$129 million decreased 38% from the year-ago quarter.

Other Details

Adjusted EBITDA decreased a modest 1% year over year to C$1,841 million.

Cash Flow & Liquidity

In the first quarter, TELUS generated C$1,077 million of cash from operating activities compared with C$950 million in the year-ago quarter. The free cash flow increased 22% to C$488 million.

Capital expenditures (excluding spectrum licenses) decreased 19% year over year to C$587 million.

2025 Guidance

TELUS reaffirmed its financial targets for 2025, backed by long-term financial objectives, policies and guidelines. The company anticipates 2-4% growth in TTech operating revenues, which excludes other income. In 2024, TTech's operating revenues totaled C$17,407 million.

TTech adjusted EBITDA is expected to grow 3-5%, while free cash flow is projected to reach nearly C$2.15 billion. Capital expenditures are estimated at C$2.5 billion, excluding C$100 million allocated for real estate development initiatives.

TU’s Zacks Rank

TELUS currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have gained 2.6% in the past six months against the Zacks Diversified Communication Services industry’s decline of 2.1%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Performance Diversified Communication Services Companies

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN - Free Report) reported first-quarter adjusted loss (excluding special items) of 13 cents per share, which was significantly narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 29 cents. The company reported adjusted loss per share of 4 cents in the prior-year quarter. Quarterly total revenues were $3.182 billion, down 3.3% year over year. However, the metric beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.7%.

Share of LUMN surged 251.2% in the past year.

BCE Inc. (BCE - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2025 adjusted EPS of C$0.68 (48 cents) compared with C$0.44 in the prior-year quarter. The figure topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents. Quarterly total operating revenues dipped 1.3% year over year to C$5,930 million ($4,131 million). The top line lagged the consensus estimate of $4,222 million.

Share of BCE decreased 16.5% in the past six months.

Rogers Communications (RCI - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of 69 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.82% and remained flat year over year. Revenues of $3.47 billion missed the consensus mark by 1.19% and decreased 4.6% year over year.
In domestic currency (Canadian dollar), adjusted earnings remained flat year over year at C$0.99 per share. Total revenues increased 1.5% year over year, reaching C$4.98 billion, driven by service revenue growth in Wireless and Media businesses.

Share of RCI declined 29.1% in the past six months.

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