Dividend increases bolster their appeal

Article Excerpt

INNERGEX RENEWABLE ENERGY $14.63 (Toronto symbol INE; Shares outstanding: 108.4 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; Dividend yield 4.5%; www.innergex.com) operates 30 hydroelectric plants, 17 wind farms and one solar power field. Those facilities are spread across Quebec, Ontario, B.C., Idaho and France. The company gets 64% of its power from the hydro plants, 35% from wind and 1% from solar. Innergex continues to grow slowly by building hydroelectric and solar plants, instead of acquiring them. To further cut risk, it makes sure it has long-term power-purchase contracts in place for any new plant it builds, or buys. In the quarter ended March 31, 2017, cash flow fell 2.3%, to $26.1 million from $26.7 million a year earlier. That’s mainly because of lower rainfall, which cut the amount of power the company generated. On more shares outstanding, cash flow per share fell 7.7%, to $0.24 from $0.26. Innergex currently trades at 7.5 times its forecast 2017 cash flow of $1.96…