Smart move by Pembina

Article Excerpt

PEMBINA PIPELINE $27.59 (Toronto symbol PPL; Shares outstanding: 167.3 million; Market cap: $4.6 billion; TSI Network Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 5.7%; www.pembina.com) is buying Provident Energy (Toronto symbol PVE) for $3.2 billion in Pembina shares. Provident will let Pembina expand beyond pipelines and natural gas gathering facilities and into natural gas liquid (NGL) extraction and fractionation. The gas that consumers use is almost entirely made up of methane, which is what is left after NGLs are extracted from natural gas. NGLs are then fractionated, or broken down, into ethane, propane and butane. These are then sold to a variety of customers. For example, ethane is used to make a host of everyday plastic products. Getting into NGLs is a big plus for Pembina, because they are typically priced in relation to oil instead of natural gas, which is now trading at depressed prices. The purchase also gives Pembina an important new revenue stream. Provident should immediately add to Pembina’s cash flow. As a result,…