Earnings jump for Fortis

Article Excerpt

FORTIS INC. $44 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 415.6 million; Market cap: $18.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Dividend yield 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Av erage; www.fortisinc.com) owns electrical utilities across Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean. It also distributes natural gas in British Columbia, Arizona and New York State. In October 2016, Fortis paid $11.8 billion U.S. in cash and shares for ITC Holdings Corp. That utility owns 25,100 kilometres of high-voltage power lines in the U.S. Midwest. The purchase price included ITC’s debt of $4.8 billion U.S. Fortis later sold 19.9% of ITC to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund for $1.2 billion U.S. As a result of this purchase, Fortis’s earnings in the three months ended March 31, 2017, jumped 47.9%, to $281 million from $190 million a year earlier. ITC contributed $91 million to the latest quarterly earnings. Fortis sold shares to help pay for the acquisition. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per…