Here at Dividend-Café we believe in the simplicity of investing for the long term. We don’t want to spend a lot of time analysing the markets or worry every day if we made the right decisions.
When starting to invest yourself in a self directed account and you don’t have a lot confidence in your ability to pick stocks, it is important to find good companies that are less volatile in all market conditions.
For others that have been at this for a long time a good reliable company that continues to increase its dividend every year is a very comforting feeling.
I have included here an article from the G&M by Gordon Pape. This is a perfect example of what a long term investor should be looking for. We’ve held Fortis since 2008 when the price was $30.23. Now it is just one of many in our dividend portfolio that gives us the income we need in retirement.
Please have a read and see.
As reliable as Old Faithful, Fortis has raised its dividend once more
Special to The Globe and Mail
Published 2 days ago Updated November 17, 2019
Fortis Inc. is Canada’s version of Old Faithful.
The famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park can be counted on to erupt approximately every 90 minutes, to the delight of tourists and photographers.
Fortis, meanwhile, can be depended on to raise its dividend at this time every year, through good times and bad.
The company recently announced a 6.1-per-cent dividend increase to $0.4775 per quarter ($1.91 annually), effective with the Dec. 1 payment.
This is the 46th consecutive year that Fortis has increased its payout, tying it with Canadian Utilities Ltd. for the longest run in this country.
And it’s not going to stop any time soon. The company is projecting annual dividend increases in the 6-per-cent range at least until 2024. Perhaps we should nickname Fortis “Old Reliable.”
Fortis has been one of my stock selections since August, 2005, when it was recommended in my internet Wealth Builder newsletter at a price of $20.80 (adjusted for a subsequent 4-for-1 share split). The dividend at that time was the equivalent of 57 cents annually, to yield 2.7 per cent.
Based on the latest increase, the forward dividend yield is 3.56 per cent, using a share price of $53.60.
This is exactly how a top-quality dividend stock is supposed to work. Fourteen years after it was recommended, the market price is up 153 per cent and the yield is even higher than when it was first picked. If you bought at that time, your yield is now 9.2 per cent. If you don’t own shares, ask yourself why not.
Perhaps it’s a lack of familiarity. Although I have frequently written about Fortis, many investors still know little or nothing about the company, despite its dividend aristocrat credentials. Perhaps it’s because the head office is in St. John’s, a long way from the glittering towers of Toronto’s Bay Street.
But make no mistake about it – this is an impressive company. Fortis runs an international utility empire with assets worth $53-billion.
Fortis’s history dates back to 1885, when it was founded as the St. John’s Electric Light Co. It was renamed as Newfoundland Light and Power Co. in 1924 and went public a quarter-century later, in 1949. In 1987, the company changed its name to Fortis, but its operations continued to be confined to its home province.
That changed in 1990 when Fortis acquired Maritime Electric in Prince Edward Island. In 1996, it moved into Ontario and in 1999 went international by acquiring assets in the Cayman Islands and Belize. The company continued to expand through more acquisitions in the Caribbean and across Canada, and in 2012 it moved into the United States with a US$1.5-billion purchase of CH Energy Group Inc., the parent company of Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., a gas and electric utility in New York State.
That was just the start. The next year, Fortis announced an agreement to acquire UNS Energy, a gas and electric utility in Arizona, for US$4.3-billion. In 2016, the company bought ITC Holdings Corp., the largest independent transmission utility in the United States, for US$11.3-billion.
Today, Fortis serves more than three million gas and electric customers across its system. Total revenue in 2018 was $8.4-billion.
Third-quarter results were consistent with a year ago, as you might expect from a utility. Adjusted net earnings were $287-million (66 cents a share) compared with $277-million (65 cents a share) in the same period last year.
For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Fortis earned $838-million ($1.93 a share). The comparable year-ago numbers were $825-million ($1.95 a share). There was an increase in the number of common shares outstanding this year, which explains the lower earnings per share.
When I first recommended buying Fortis back in 2005, I wrote: “This is a stock that offers steady and increasing cash flow and modest long-term growth potential with limited downside risk.”
More than 14 years later, the same words still apply. Ask your financial adviser if it is suitable for you.
Gordon Pape is editor and publisher of the Internet Wealth Builder and Income Investor newsletters.
