BCE (BCE) Stock Forecast & Price Target

BCE is supported by a durable core telecom franchise with 10 million postpaid and nearly 1 million prepaid wireless customers, plus 5 million broadband customers across 13 million homes, giving it scale and resilience in a defensive industry. Its outlook is strengthened by improving Canadian pricing discipline, a 6% dividend yield backed by a payout ratio that is expected to decline to 52% on 2028 estimates, and valuation compression with the stock at about 6.8x 2026E EBITDA versus a 10-year average near 8.0x. Growth catalysts from the 300MW Saskatchewan data centre project, the Merritt AI cloud partnership, and the 2025 acquisition of Ziply Fiber add incremental earnings and strategic optionality while BCE’s largely owned infrastructure helps protect cash flows.

BCE is facing a negative setup because its core telecom business is under pressure from heightened competition, regulatory risk, and potential disruption from new technologies, all of which can erode pricing power and free cash flow. Its recent operating performance has not been strong enough to offset these concerns, with 2Q non-GAAP operating margin of 13.8% only slightly above guidance and incremental profitability declining year over year, while shares have already fallen about 13% since early June. Although BCE has expanded through the 2025 Ziply Fiber acquisition and completed the 2025 sale of its 37.5% stake in Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, those moves do not eliminate the broader risks tied to weaker demand, macro sensitivity, and the uncertainty around 2026 guidance.