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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Investor2 who wrote (12026)	4/20/2001 3:56:12 PM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 78958

I2, fwiw (not much), I've started a position today in ATO which I consider a reasonable dividend play. My plan is to keep the roughly 5.4% dividend yield while I wait for the company and its stock to receive more investor attention. A typical utility it seems. The dividend looks to be increasing every year (It's now 13 consecutive), as does stock outstanding, accompanied by occasional increases in ltd. Typical of capital intensive businesses. And their ROE is lousy too. (Less now than their 10 year average, so MAYBE there's eventually going to be some improvement.) Revenues seem to be growing by acquisitions. At current price the p/bv, p/sales, p/e seem to me to offer some hope that the stock could move up a bit so that those ratios will be nearer the higher levels that they've seen in the past. For example, while book value hasn't increased much over the years (as is typical), the stock in several past years has traded at 2x bv. If that should occur now again - that would make a $28 sh. price (up from $21 now). ATO distributes natural gas to over one million customers in 11 states (they say). Natural gas business is 'sposed to be real profitable now. C'mon, ATO, release some good news on your April 26 earnings conference call!