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ITC Holdings (ITC) Invests in Transmission System, Grows EPS and Dividend: Expert Analyst Christopher B. Muir Shares His Top Picks in the Gas and Multiutilities Sectors with The Wall Street Transcript

67 WALL STREET, New York - August 23, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Alternative Energy Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs and Equity Analysts. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Grid Parity Timelines for Alternative Energy - Asia Pacific Demand for Solar Energy - Alternative Energy Generation - Solar Energy Pricing - Government Subsidies and Regulation - Solar Growth Drivers and Headwinds - Regulatory Headwinds for U.S. Utilities

Companies include: Duke Energy Corp. (DUK), ITC Holdings Corp. (ITC), Nicor Inc. (GAS), Energen Corp. (EGN), EQT Corporation (EQT), National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG), New Jersey Resources Corp. (NJR), ONEOK Inc. (OKE), South Jersey Industries, Inc. (SJI), Questar Corp. (STR), UGI Corp. (UGI), WGL Holdings Inc. (WGL), The AES Corporation (AES), NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG), TransAlta Corp. (TAC), Centerpoint Energy Inc. (CNP), Dominion Resources, Inc. (D), Alliant Energy Corporation (LNT), MDU Resources Group Inc. (MDU), Nisource Inc. (NI), SCANA Corp. (SCG), Sempra Energy (SRE), Integrys Energy Group, Inc. (TEG), Entergy Corp. (ETR), AmeriGas Partners LP (APU) and many more.

In the following excerpt from the Alternative Energy Report, an expert analyst discusses the outlook for the sector for investors:

TWST: If you had to choose one to two stocks from your group as top picks today, which would you recommend and why?

Mr. Muir: All right, well first off we already discussed ITC Holdings slightly. The company has really been investing a lot in its transmission system and both in maintenance, investments and in growth projects. They have recently completed a number of projects, which have added to their EPS growth.

We see them growing EPS at roughly a 17% three-year compound annual growth rate, and that is triple what other typical pure-play utilities have, but at the same time ITC's current 2014 p/e ratio is just 15.2 times, so it's even with electric utilities, and its 2013 p/e ratio is 17.8 times earnings. So they are trading at a very small premium to the electric utility space right now, even though their EPS growth is triple the other utilities, so I think that they are a great value play and also a growth play at the same time.

The company, in addition to growing its EPS, is growing its dividend very quickly. It does have a fairly low dividend yield of just 1.7%. But again, as they increase their dividend in double-digit rates as my expectation, that yield will go up over time for purchased shares. I have a $109 price target on ITC and a five star or "strong buy" opinion.

UGI Corp -which I have a "buy" opinion on, or four stars with a $46 target price - is a company that is based in Pennsylvania. It's a natural gas distribution utility, a domestic and international propane distribution company, and it owns midstream assets including a local LNG storage facility and gas gathering and transmission investments.

It's domestic propane company, AmeriGas (APU), 42, "hold," is a master limited partnership, which is rated "hold" by a separate S&P analyst with a target price of 47, should benefit from recent acquisitions it has made, and we see them making more acquisitions...

For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

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