This past top pick is still a solid buy

Article Excerpt

FORTIS INC. $59 is a buy. The company (Toronto symbol FTS; Conservative & Income Portfolios, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 472.9 million; Market cap: $27.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.fortisinc.com) is the main supplier of electrical power in Newfoundland and PEI. Fortis also owns electrical utilities across Canada, the U.S. and the Caribbean, and distributes natural gas in B.C., Arizona and New York State. Fortis was our #1 Income Buy for 2021, and it did not disappoint. With the December 2021 payment, the company increased your quarterly dividend by 5.9%, to $0.535 a share from of $0.505. The new annual rate of $2.14 yields a solid 3.6%. Moreover, Fortis plans to increase the annual rate by about 6% each year through 2025. The stock is also up 13% in the past year. It now trades at an attractive 20.6 times the $2.86 a share that the company will probably earn in 2022. Fortis is a buy. buy…