Two ways to profit in Canadian Utilities

Article Excerpt

These two utilities offer an attractive combination of growth and income. Investors who are looking for stronger growth should choose ATCO, while income seekers should opt for Canadian Utilities. CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. (Toronto symbols CU [class A non-voting] $72 and CU.X [class B voting] $72; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 127.6 million; Market cap: $9.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 2.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.canadianutilities.com) distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta. It also operates 19 power plants in Canada, Australia and the U.K. ATCO Ltd. (see below) owns 52.7% of the company. In July 2011, Canadian Utilities paid $1.1 billion for a company that distributes natural gas in Perth, Australia. This purchase helped push up revenue by 3.5% in the first quarter of 2012, to $837 million from $809 million a year earlier. Earnings rose 9.7%, to $193 million from $176 million. Because it had more shares outstanding, its earnings per share rose at a slower pace of…