Income
These two former income trusts recently converted to corporations in response to Ottawa’s tax on income-trust distributions. That means they must now pay corporate taxes. Even so, their high payouts (which are now dividends) seem secure.
PENGROWTH ENERGY CORP. $12 (Toronto symbol PGF; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 326.0 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: …read more »
ISHARES DEX UNIVERSE BOND INDEX FUND $29.48 (CWA Rating: Income) (Toronto symbol XBB; buy or sell through a broker) mirrors the performance of the DEX Universe Bond Index.
This index consists of a wide range of investment-grade Canadian government and corporate bonds with terms to maturity of more than one year. The 406 bonds in the portfolio have an average term …read more »
VERESEN INC. $12.83 (Toronto symbol VSN; Shares outstanding: 145.6 million; Market cap: $1.9 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 7.8%) is the new name of Fort Chicago Energy Partners L.P. after it converted to a corporation on January 1, 2011.
Veresen owns and operates energy pipelines and processing plants across North America. One of its major holdings is a 50% …read more »
J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO. $45 (New York symbol JPM; Income Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 3.9 billion; Market cap: $175.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 0.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.jpmorganchase.com) earned $15.8 billion in 2010. That’s up 79.7% from $8.8 billion in 2009. Earnings per share rose 75.3%, to $3.98 from $2.27, on more shares outstanding. That’s …read more »
Ameren and Alliant are Midwestern utilities with long histories of steady dividend payments. We like both, but we prefer Alliant for new buying. That’s because it gets just 5% of its revenue from its unregulated businesses, compared to 25% for Ameren. This makes Alliant less vulnerable to unpredictable weather and volatile fuel prices.
AMEREN CORP. $29 (New York symbol AEE; Income …read more »
FRONTIER COMMUNICATIONS CORP. $9.33 (New York symbol FTR; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 993.9 million; Market cap: $9.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 8.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.frontier.com) sells traditional telephone and high-speed Internet services to 5.6 million customers in 27 states.
In July 2010, Frontier acquired Verizon’s traditional phone operations in 14 states in an all-stock deal. As …read more »
NEXTERA ENERGY INC. $51 (New York symbol NEE; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 418.4 million; Market cap: $21.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 3.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nexteraenergy.com) is paying First Solar Inc. (Nasdaq symbol FSLR) an undisclosed sum for four solar-power projects in Ontario. These projects should begin producing electricity in the first quarter of 2011.
Solar and …read more »
ZARGON ENERGY TRUST $19.63 (Toronto symbol ZAR.UN; SI Rating: Speculative) (403-264-9992; www.zargon.ca; Units outstanding: 23.7 million; Market cap: $465.2 million; Dividend yield: 11.0%) has bought privately held Oakmont Energy for about $9.45 million. The purchase price consists of 336,000 Zargon units, plus Zargon will assume about $3.45 million of net debt (including adjustments and transaction costs).
Oakmont produces about 280 barrels …read more »
PENGROWTH ENERGY TRUST $11 (Toronto symbol PGF.UN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Units outstanding: 291.3 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 7.6%; SI Rating: Average) is one of North America’s largest energy royalty trusts. Its main properties are in Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan. The trust also holds interests in other energy projects, such as its 8.4% …read more »
ALLIED PROPERTIES REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST $22.28 (Toronto symbol AP.UN; Units outstanding: 42 million; Market cap: $934.8 million; SI Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield: 5.9%) owns office buildings in Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City and Winnipeg. These mainly Class I properties contain over 5.9 million square feet of leasable area.
Class I refers to 19th and early 20th-century light industrial buildings that …read more »
