These four utilities beat bonds

Article Excerpt

Inflation remains low in Canada. That’s one reason why interest rates remain at today’s historically low levels. However, the long-term outlook is for higher rates, as the expansion of the money supply in the past few years will likely spur inflation. We continue to advise against investing in bonds, because low interest rates hurt their appeal, while rising rates would push down their future value. If you need stable income, we prefer highyielding utilities like these four. Their dividends also qualify for the dividend tax credit. ATCO LTD. (Toronto symbols ACO.X [class I non-voting] $48 and ACO.Y [class II voting] $48; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 115.3 million; Market cap: $5.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 1.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.atco.com) holds 53.2% of Canadian Utilities (see page 85). It also owns 75.5% of ATCO Structures & Logistics, which builds temporary buildings for construction and energyexploration firms; Canadian Utilities owns the remaining 24.5%. The company recently agreed…