U.S. spurs Fortis earnings

Article Excerpt

FORTIS INC. $48 (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 417.9 million; Market cap: $20.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield 3.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; 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 acquired ITC Holdings Corp. That utility owns 25,100 kilometres of highvoltage power lines in the U.S. Midwest. The purchase price of $11.8 billion U.S. included ITC’s debt of $4.8 billion U.S. Fortis needed help to pay for such a large purchase, which is why it sold 19.9% of ITC to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund at a discounted price of $1.2 billion U.S. As a result of this purchase, Fortis’s earnings in the three months ended September 30, 2017, jumped 66.0%, to $254 million from $153 million a year earlier. ITC contributed $89 million to the latest quarterly earnings. Fortis sold shares to help…