08:29 AM EDT, 08/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- BCE Inc. ( BCEXF ) on Thursday reported a profit for its second quarter, but adjusted EPS of $0.78 missed Capital IQ forecast of $0.79, and operating revenues of $6.005 billion missed Capital IQ's $6.067.91 billion.

But it did reconfirm all 2024 financial guidance targets.

National Bank noted revenues came in lighter entirely due to lower Wireless product sales, while EBITDA beat due to CTS (Telecom) helped by a negative 4.1% opex driven by headcount reduction and technology-driven efficiencies. Wireline subscriber losses were worse than expected at minus 31K (versus consensus estimate of minus 10K). Wireless loading reflected a change in mix (postpaid lighter, prepaid beat) as seen last week with Rogers, while ARPU fell 1.9% as expected and blended churn jumped +20 bps to 1.47% (consensus 1.42%).

National has an Outperform rating and C$50 target on the stock.