Telus stock has been wobbling, and the market’s not subtle about why. In April, it dipped more than 9% as dividend cut fears picked up steam—almost like people are watching the same old movie again.
Misryoum newsroom reported the timeline that’s spooking investors. It’s comparing Telus’s moves to what happened with BCE, a year earlier: BCE paused dividend growth, then changed the dividend-reinvestment plan (DRIP), and eventually cut the dividend by 56% after reporting a 1.1% decrease in revenue and 8.1% decrease in free cash flow (FCF) in 2024. Telus, for its part, ended December 2025 with a pause in dividend growth and changed its DRIP plan—phasing out the 2% discount on treasury shares by 2027. The parallel is close enough that it’s hard not to connect the dots, even if the companies aren’t identical.
What makes Telus feel a bit different is the financial “starting position,” at least according to Misryoum analysis. BCE had a net debt of 3.8 times its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) at the end of 2025, with a plan to reduce it to 3.5 times by 2027 and 3.0 times by 2030. For BCE, that weak balance sheet didn’t just trigger a dividend cut—it also forced a shift in long-term payout policy to 40-55% from 65-75%. Telus, meanwhile, has accelerated deleveraging, bringing its leverage ratio to 3.4 times in 2025 and aiming for 3.0 times by 2027. Telus has kept its dividend payout policy at 60-75% of FCF so far.
And then there’s the other big difference: strategy. Misryoum editorial desk noted that behind the contrast between BCE and Telus fundamentals is how they repositioned after the regulatory change. BCE made the bold move to restructure its business model from telco to techno—acquiring U.S.-based Ziply fibre and building enterprise solutions like cybersecurity, cloud, and artificial intelligence (AI). Telus took a more consolidated route, merging its digital solutions business it built from scratch and expecting its AI-enabling revenue to grow at an average annual rate of 30% to $2 billion by 2028.
So where could Telus stock be in three years? Misryoum newsroom reported that the next three years, from 2026 to 2028, are crucial because management will have to make difficult decisions to improve its balance sheet. Actually, the big point is debt comfort—getting leverage down early enough to reduce liquidity risk. The analysis also doesn’t rule out a dividend cut, even a dramatic one: halving dividends could save $1.3 billion, which could be used to repay debt. If Telus takes that kind of step, the stock price could see a remarkable recovery of 20-25% in the first year, similar to what happened with BCE. That’s the upside case, at least. The downside is obvious too—dividend cut risk, and the kind of volatility that comes with it.
It’s also why the “buy now” question is getting so much attention. Misryoum editorial team stated that now is a good time to buy Telus stock while it trades near its multi-year low. Either it’s already bottomed out near $16, or it could fall another 5-10% before recovery. Either way, you’re signing up for a rough ride: prepare for dividend cut risk, but also for a sharp share price rally if management pushes leverage toward the target range of 2.2-2.7 times and gets to a 3.0 times ratio as early as possible—while the AI-enabling revenue storyline keeps moving. I was looking at the market screen earlier—there was that faint buzz of a fluorescent light overhead—and it felt like every ticker update was tied to the same question: will they hold, or will they cut?
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