High-yielding utilities: 3 buys and 1 hold

Article Excerpt

Interest rates will probably stay low for the next year or two. That should encourage income-seeking investors to keep buying high-yielding utilities. These four power providers continue to invest in new projects, which will give them more cash flow for dividends. Still, not all are buys right now. CANADIAN UTILITIES LTD. (Toronto symbols CU [class A non-voting] $41 and CU.X [class B voting] $41; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 261.0 million; Market cap: $10.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.2; Dividend yield: 2.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www. canadianutilities.com) distributes electricity and natural gas in Alberta and Australia. It also operates 18 power plants in Canada, Australia and the U.K. ATCO Ltd. (see right) owns 53.1% of the company. Canadian Utilities continues to invest in projects that will make Alberta’s electricity grid more reliable. For example, it recently spent $650 million to build 355 kilometres of new transmission lines and substations in the province’s southeast. Thanks to these new assets, Canadian…