The MaxDividends Dividend Safety Score measures dividend safety based on business quality, payout sustainability, dividend consistency, and long-term growth.
In this series, we look at real dividend failures to see what the Score showed before they happened — and what those early warning signs could mean for your money.
Intro
TELUS is one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, providing wireless, internet and communications services to millions of customers, while also operating growing businesses in areas such as healthcare and digital services.
For dividend investors, TELUS had long been a familiar and respected name. The company built a strong history of consistent dividend payments and regular increases, making it a natural holding for investors focused on reliable and growing income.
What Happened
On July 31, 2026, TELUS announced a 55% dividend cut, reducing its quarterly dividend from C$0.4184 to C$0.1875 per share.
The company said the reset would save approximately C$2.7 billion through 2028, with those savings directed toward reducing debt and strengthening the balance sheet. TELUS also lowered its target dividend payout ratio and withdrew its previous dividend growth model.
What Does This Mean for Us?
Let’s make it simple and imagine that before the cut, TELUS generated $100 a year in dividend income for you.
Your income:
Dividends $100 - 55% cut → $45
A 55% dividend cut means your annual income from the same shares drops by more than half.
Now imagine your TELUS investment itself was worth $100 before the announcement.
Your capital:
Stock price $100 → dividend cut → $85
15% capital loss in one day. Following the announcement and the sell-off, the value of your investment fell by roughly 15%.
So the hit came from both sides: less income today and less capital in your portfolio.
Could We Have Seen the Risk Earlier?
At MaxDividends, we use the Dividend Safety Score to monitor the dividend risk of the companies in our portfolios.
The Score combines business quality, dividend policy and consistency, payout sustainability, and long-term dividend growth into a single measure of how well a company’s dividend is supported.
What the Dividend Safety Score Was Showing
Six months before the dividend cut, TELUS already had a MaxDividends Dividend Safety Score of 79 — Unsafe.
At MaxDividends, a Safety Score below 80 is our sell threshold. When a company falls below that level, we no longer consider its dividend safe enough for our portfolios.
In TELUS’s case, that warning appeared six months before the dividend cut — giving us the opportunity to exit the stock before the 55% income cut and the sell-off that followed.
What That Means in Real Money
MaxDividends Safety Score in Action
Your income:
Dividends $100 → Safety Score warning → $100 ✅
Acting on the warning could have protected your dividend income by moving your capital to a safer dividend stock.
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Your capital:
$136 → Safety Score signal → $136 protected instead of $85
Acting on the Safety Score six months earlier could have protected $136 of capital, instead of seeing it fall to $85 when the dividend cut was announced.
Summary: What This Means on $10,000
Let’s put it into real money.
🔴 Without the Dividend Safety Score
Capital: $10,000 → $8,500 (-$1,500)
Dividend income: $1,000 → $450/year (-$550/year)
🟢 With the Dividend Safety Score warning
Capital: ~$8,500 → $13,600 (+$5,100 protected)
Dividend income: $1,000 → $1,000/year protected
The Difference
💰 +$5,100 more capital
💵 +$550 more dividend income per year
The Bigger Question
How many companies in your portfolio and on your watchlist are already below 80 — and you simply don’t know it yet?
The MaxDividends Research Platform tracks 19,000 companies and their Dividend Safety Scores, helping you spot weakening dividends before the damage becomes obvious.
No score can eliminate risk or guarantee the outcome. But one early warning can make a very real difference.
$249 to help protect thousands in capital and income — worth it?
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