Why BCE Inc stock fell yesterday

Ontario’s University Pension Plan Ontario (UPP) hired lawyer Gale Rubenstein as chair and first employee, initially overseeing about $10 billion for University of Toronto, Queen’s University, and University of Guelph staff, with ambitions to expand. Separately, CNBC and others discuss an AI hedge fund’s losses and CPP Investments’ benchmark analysis. BCE also agreed to buy Ziply Fiber for $5 billion.

A roundup of analyst actions in Canada’s telecom and transportation sectors. Raymond James initiated coverage of the telecom industry and set BCE at “market perform” with a C$37 target, Quebecor at “market perform” C$72, Rogers at “outperform” C$68, and Telus at “market perform” C$18.50. TD Cowen downgraded Rockpoint Gas Storage to “hold” (C$32). National Bank raised NFI Group to C$29. Scotiabank upgraded TFI International to “sector outperform” with a C$260 target.

HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE) said it signed a three-year, US$220 million AI infrastructure deal with Bell Canada and Cohere to build an integrated Canadian AI platform, combining Bell’s data centre services, Cohere’s software and HIVE/BUZZ GPU cloud and server capabilities. BUZZ will buy 2,304 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell GPUs for deployment in Merritt, BC. HIVE shares last traded at C$5.62.

BCE’s dividend has shifted from a long-running “stable” payout to a new, lower level after the company cut its annualized common dividend to $1.75 per share from $3.99, leaving a yield around 5.1% (at the time of writing). BCE reported Q1 2026 operating revenue of $6.2 billion (+4% y/y), adjusted EBITDA of $2.6 billion (+2.9%), and free cash flow of $804 million (+0.8%), according to the article. The piece links the cut to higher interest costs, capital needs, and competition, while noting asset

BCE Inc (TSX:BCE) pays a quarterly dividend of $0.44 ($1.76/year), implying about a 5.2% yield at $33.99. The article warns another dividend cut is possible after BCE cut its dividend in 2025 from $0.9975 to $0.4375, citing weak earnings and a high payout ratio. It notes last quarter’s EPS of $0.69 versus $0.44 dividends (64% payout) alongside modest growth.

Caterpillar shares rose about 12% on 4 August after its Q2 results beat analyst expectations. The company reported revenue of $20.54bn, up 24% year on year, and adjusted EPS of $8.17 versus $6.20 expected. Operating profit was $4.3bn. Order backlog reached $72.1bn, up 92%, supporting construction and power demand tied to data centres.