Q: Hello
I was looking at your 5i Stock Screener: Canadian Utilities Companies That Are in a Solid Financial Position, and was stunned to see that Fortis is missing from the list. 5i are constantly recommending FTS as a "best" company with a 50+ history of dividend increases so is there a problem with it, so not on the list. What would it's numbers be if it were on the list. Please explain
Thanking you............ Paul W K
I was looking at your 5i Stock Screener: Canadian Utilities Companies That Are in a Solid Financial Position, and was stunned to see that Fortis is missing from the list. 5i are constantly recommending FTS as a "best" company with a 50+ history of dividend increases so is there a problem with it, so not on the list. What would it's numbers be if it were on the list. Please explain
Thanking you............ Paul W K
5i Research Answer:
We continue to like FTS as it is the largest Canadian utility company and has a strong yield of 4.3%. The stock did not show up on the screener due to its net debt/EBITDA being greater than 6X, but this does not imply that it is not a great company. Our screeners are simply a method of attempting to pull some of the best names by weeding out the weaker names, but this does not imply that all names excluded from the list are bad.
FTS has an interest expense coverage ratio of 2.4X, long-term debt / total capital of 51.5%, a net debt/EBITDA of 6.1X, and a cash/market cap of 2.69%.