Shift to copper will pay off for Teck

Article Excerpt

TECK RESOURCES LTD. $61 remains a buy for the Resources sector of your portfolio. In 2008, the company (Toronto symbol TECK.B; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 512.0 million; Market cap: $31.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk; www.teck.com) sold its metallurgical coal mines in B.C. and Alberta in 2024. As a result, Teck now focuses on its copper and zinc mines in Canada, the U.S., Peru and Chile. Those properties include the Quebrada Blanca copper mine (60% owned) in northern Chile. The other investors are Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. (30%) and the Chilean government (10%). The company now plans to spend between $3.2 billion U.S. and $3.9 billion U.S. to expand its copper projects. These outlays should lift its annual output from 446,000 tonnes in 2024 to 800,000 tonnes by 2030. The higher production will let Teck keep rewarding investors—it has paid $5.4 billion in dividends and share buybacks since 2019. The current annual dividend rate of $0.50 a share…