TRANSCANADA CORP. $46.71 - Toronto symbol TRP

TRANSCANADA CORP. $46.71 (Toronto symbol TRP; Shares outstanding: 707.0 million; Market cap: $33.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.9%; www.transcanada.com) now estimates that it will cost $5.4 billion U.S. to build the Keystone XL pipeline, which would pump crude from the Alberta oil sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. That’s up from $5.3 billion U.S.

TransCanada hopes the U.S. government will approve Keystone XL in early 2014. If so, it could start up in 2016.

If the company has to cancel Keystone XL, it will probably have to write off the $2.0 billion U.S. that it has already invested in it. That’s equal to about 50% of the company’s annual cash flow, but it’s still a manageable amount.

TransCanada is a buy.

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