CAMECO CORP. $22.34 (Toronto symbol CCO; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (306-956-6200; www.cameco.com; Shares outstanding: 395.3 million; Market cap: $8.8 billion; Dividend yield 1.8%) is the world’s largest uranium producer. It supplies roughly 25% of global production and has large, high-grade reserves, low-cost operations, significant market share and a number of uranium mines.
Cameco also holds a 31.6% stake in Ontario’s Bruce Power partnership, which operates four of the eight reactors at the Bruce plant, North America’s largest nuclear power complex.
In the three months ended March 31, 2012, Cameco’s revenue rose 22.1%, to $563 million from $461 million a year earlier. It sold more uranium in the latest quarter, and its selling prices also rose. Earnings per share jumped 47.6%, to $0.31 from $0.21.
Cameco aims to nearly double its uranium output, to 40 million pounds, by 2018. Its Cigar Lake mine, which will start up in mid-2013, will contribute much of that increase. Cameco holds cash of $1.4 billion, or $3.33 a share, so it has lots of money for expansion.
Nuclear power’s long-term outlook is positive. Right now, about 650 million people in China and India are living without electricity. There are currently 61 nuclear reactors under construction globally, mostly in those two countries, and plans to build another 162.
Cameco is still a buy.
