After Rogers Communications Inc. cleared its final regulatory hurdle to close its $20-billion acquisition of Shaw Communications Inc. on Friday, a Canadian portfolio manager said stocks appeared to have already “priced in” the outcome, and predicted telecoms might still have a rocky road ahead amid persistently high inflation.
Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced Friday morning that he had approved the sale with conditions and potential fines attached, clearing the way for the takeover to go through next week.
Bryden Teich, partner and portfolio manager at Avenue Investment Management, told BNN Bloomberg that the stock movement on the day of the announcement suggests the market expected approval of the sale “was always the most likely outcome.”
“How the shares are reacting this morning, I think it gives an indication that for the most part, this was priced in,” Teich said in a television interview on Friday.
Rogers stock price was down 1.68 points or 2.88 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange as of 12:15 p.m. on Friday, while Shaw was up 1.27 points or 3.24 per cent.
Teich said Rogers’ move to expand its services into Western Canada with Shaw assets makes sense for the company. However, he noted that Rogers has faced challenges keeping up with its competitors, particularly on fibre services, so the sale may not ultimately give Rogers a major leg up against them.
“At Rogers, you can understand why they would make this decision, but it doesn't necessarily mean I think that Rogers is in the best shape going forward,” he said.
As for telecom stocks in general, Teich said their high dividend yield offers “comfort” for investors, but he cautioned that it’s difficult for companies in the sector to quickly raise prices in response to inflation compared with other industries.
“I would look at telco space in general and just say I don't think it has great pricing power in an inflationary environment,” he said.
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