dividends paid
FORT CHICAGO ENERGY TRUST $11.88 (Toronto symbol FCE.UN; SI Rating: Extra Risk) owns 50% of the Alliance Pipeline, a 36-inch diameter natural gas pipeline with a capacity of 1,550 million cubic feet per day. It extends 3,000 kilometres from Fort St. John in B.C. to Chicago, Illinois. Enbridge Inc. owns the other 50% interest. The other assets held by the two partners are 85.4% of the Aux Sable natural gas liquids plant. Fort Chicago diversified its pipeline operations in 2004 with the purchase of the 1,324-kilometre Alberta Ethane Gathering System for $273.3 million. It’s now pursuing a number of growth projects, including investments in the proposed one billion cubic foot per day Jordan Cove liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Oregon, and the proposed Pacific Connector pipeline, designed to bring that gas to market. In the three months ended December 31, 2005, Fort Chicago’s revenues rose 5.5%, to $231.7 million from $219.6 million a year earlier. Cash flow per unit fell 16.7%, to $0.35 from $0.42....
SONY CORP. $47 (New York symbol SNE; WSSF Rating: Above average) is one of the world’s largest makers of consumer electronic products such as TV sets, DVD players and stereo equipment. This business supplies two-thirds of its revenues. The remaining third comes from its PlayStation video game players, its film and TV studios, and its financial services division. In the past few years, Sony failed to anticipate the strong demand for big screen TV sets that use either plasma or LCD (liquid crystal display) technologies. That let other companies cut into its market share. Meanwhile, its famed Walkman portable music players lost market share, mainly to Apple’s iPod. Now, however, Sony is restructuring its TV business, to focus on new flat screens. This will cost roughly $900 million, but should cut way back on its operating costs, starting with a $50 million saving in fiscal 2007 (fiscal years end March 31)....
Today, all too many investors try to take investment cues from short-term developments like quarterly earning reports, the timing of new product releases and so on. However, no one can consistently predict these short-term factors. That’s why you’re far better off to base investment decisions on trends and developments that last for years if not decades. That’s especially true with a stock like Sony, which has been out of favor with investors since the 1990s and now trades below its 1997 peak. Though its earnings were irregular and it made some bad business decisions, Sony built up a great deal of hidden value in that time. It now seems set for far better results in the next seven years....