Two Utility Buys for Income and Growth

Article Excerpt

TRANSALTA CORP. $34 (Toronto symbol TA; SI Rating: Average) operates 50 power plants, in North America and Australia. In the three months ended September 30, 2007, TransAlta’s revenues rose 8.5%, to $711.6 million from $656 million. Earnings before unusual items rose 80.2%, to $63.6 million or $0.32 a share, from $35.3 million or $0.18 a share. Higher production and selling prices at Centralia Coal and Alberta Hydro contributed to the increase. The company’s $1.00 a share annual dividend rate gives it a current yield of 2.9%. TransAlta trades at 27.2 times the $1.25 a share it’s likely to make in 2007. That’s somewhat high for a utility, but the company prefers to operate unregulated plants, which increases its exposure to sometimes volatile electricity prices. However, we feel power prices will probably continue to rise over the next years, particularly as the Alberta economy expands. TransAlta has no controlling shareholder, and generates plenty of steady cash flow that a buyer could use to pay down…