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Topic: Dividend Stocks

EMERA INC. $24 – Toronto symbol EMA

EMERA INC. $24 (Toronto symbol EMA; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 113.0 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 4.7%; SI Rating: Average) owns Nova Scotia Power Inc., which is Nova Scotia’s main electrical-power supplier. Nova Scotia Power supplies 94% of Emera’s revenue. The remaining 6% comes from investments in power companies in the U.S. and Caribbean.

Emera is diversifying into other businesses. For example, its Brunswick Pipeline, which carries natural gas from Saint John, New Brunswick, to the U.S. border, began operating on July 16, 2009.

The pipeline contributed $14.0 million to Emera’s 2009 earnings. That’s the main reason why its 2009 earnings rose 21.9%, to $175.7 million from $144.1 million in 2008. Emera also benefited from higher power rates in Nova Scotia. Earnings per share rose 20.6%, to $1.52 from $1.26, on more shares outstanding. Revenue rose 10.0%, to $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion.

The company uses coal and oil to generate about 80% of its electricity. To cut its reliance on these fuels and comply with tougher environmental regulations, the company is working to get more of its power from renewable sources.

In April 2010, Nova Scotia Power and U.S.-based NewPage Corp. agreed to build a new biomass power plant at NewPage’s Port Hawkesbury paper mill in northern Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Power will invest $200 million in the plant, which should start operating by the end of 2012.

Emera should earn $1.54 a share this year, and the stock trades at 15.6 times this estimate.

Emera is a buy.

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