Topic: Dividend Stocks

ATCO LTD. – Toronto symbols ACO.X $61 and ACO.Y $61

ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $61 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $61; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 57.7 million; Market cap: $3.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) is a holding company. Its main subsidiary is 52.7%-owned Canadian Utilities.

ATCO has four main divisions: Utilities (which distributes electricity and natural gas); Energy (which operates power plants); Structures & Logistics (which provides buildings and related services, such as fire protection, to construction and resource companies); and its Australian business (which operates power plants and distributes natural gas in Australia.) ATCO owns 75.5% of the Structures division; Canadian Utilities owns the remaining 24.5%.

The Structures business continues to win new contracts. For example, in January 2012, it signed a deal with Husky Energy to provide housing and related services to workers at the Sunrise Energy oil sands project in Alberta.

The company didn’t disclose the value or length of this contract. However, it should lead to more deals as the Husky project expands over the next few years.

ATCO trades at a low 10.4 times its forecast 2012 earnings of $5.85 a share. The company recently raised its quarterly dividend by 14.9%, to $0.3275 a share from $0.285. The new annual rate of $1.31 yields 2.1%.

ATCO is a buy. The more liquid class I nonvoting shares are the better choice.

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