Important new project for Ameren

Article Excerpt

AMEREN CORP. $40 (New York symbol AEE; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 242.6 million; Market cap: $9.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.5; Dividend yield: 4.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.ameren.com) has received regulatory approval to build a 644-kilometre, $1.1-billion power line in central Illinois. The project will make the state’s power grid more reliable when it’s finished in 2019. Meanwhile, the company earned $512 million in 2013, down 0.8% from $516 million in 2012. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 1.4%, to $2.10 from $2.13. That’s mainly because the company had to shut down a nuclear reactor for refueling. Higher power rates raised its revenue by 1.0%, to $5.84 billion from $5.78 billion. Ameren is a hold. hold…