Parent a better choice for value-seekers

Article Excerpt

ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $47 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $47; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 114.3 million; Market cap: $5.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) gets most of its earnings from its 53.1% stake in Canadian Utilities (see left). It also owns 75.5% of ATCO Structures & Logistics, which makes temporary buildings for construction, mining and energy exploration firms; Canadian Utilities owns the other 24.5%. In the second quarter of 2016, ATCO earned $61 million, or $0.53 a share. That’s a big jump from $8 million, or $0.06, a year earlier. If you exclude unusual items, earnings rose 42.1%, to $81 million from $57 million. Revenue fell 1.6%, to $932 million from $947 million. The Structures business had 5.4% higher revenue, mainly due to new worksite projects in B.C. and Louisiana. ATCO’s main appeal is its “holding company discount.” That means it trades for less than the…