Use these key updates to build your returns

Article Excerpt

EMERA INC. $55 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol EMA; Income-Growth Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 271.7 million; Market cap: $14.9 billion; Dividend yield: 5.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Highest; www.emera.com) owns 100% of Nova Scotia Power, that province’s main electricity supplier. It also owns Tampa Electric, as well as power plants and gas pipelines in the U.S. and the Caribbean. With the November 2022 payment, Emera increased your quarterly dividend by 4.2%, to $0.69 a share from $0.6625. The new annual rate of $2.76 yields a high 5.0%. Emera plans to spend between $8 billion and $9 billion on new projects and plant upgrades between 2023 and 2025. These investments will increase its rate base between 7% and 8% annually, from $21.92 billion in 2021 to $29.73 billion in 2025. Regulators use rate base—the value of a utility’s assets—to calculate the utility’s approved rate of return and power rates. The higher rate base should let Emera increase the annual dividend rate by 4% to 5%…