More to Fortis than dividends

Article Excerpt

Several factors recommend Fortis as our top Income Portfolio buy for 2019. They include the company’s long history of annual dividend hikes and its plan to continue raising that payment over the next five years. Fortis has plenty of room to meet that goal: it paid out 69% of its earnings as dividends in the past year. Aside from steady dividend growth—and Fortis’s high yield—the company’s investors also benefit from its expansion into the U.S. That has cut its geographic risk. In addition, the company gets 99% of its earnings from regulated utilities, which provides highly dependable revenue streams. FORTIS INC. $53 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative & Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 430.9 million; Market cap: $22.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fortisinc.com) began supplying electricity to St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1885. The company is now the main power utility in that province as well as PEI. In the past few years, Fortis has used acquisitions to cut its…