TransCanada expands in Mexico

Article Excerpt

TRANSCANADA CORP. $30 (Toronto symbol TRP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 619 million; Market cap: $18.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.0; SI Rating: Above Average) has won a $320-million U.S. contract to build, own and operate a 310-kilometre natural-gas pipeline in Mexico. (It already owns a 130-kilometre gas pipeline in the country.) To put this in context, TransCanada earned $343 million (Canadian), or $0.55 a share in the first quarter of 2009. TransCanada has a 25-year contract to use the new pipeline to supply fuel to two power plants owned by Mexico’s state-owned electric company. It should begin operating in March 2011. TransCanada is a buy. buy…