Ameren Corp (AEE)

[eastunder]

5 Buy-Rated Dividend Stocks:

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11924440/1/5-buy-rated-dividend-stocks-ed-aee-fe-tot-wpc.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

Ameren

Dividend Yield: 4.50%

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) shares currently have a dividend yield of 4.50%.

Ameren Corporation operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. It operates in three segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois, and Merchant Generation.

The average volume for Ameren has been 1,692,900 shares per day over the past 30 days. Ameren has a market cap of $8.6 billion and is part of the utilities industry. Shares are up 16.8% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

TheStreet Ratings rates Ameren as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in net income, increase in stock price during the past year, growth in earnings per share and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Multi-Utilities industry. The net income increased by 64.0% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from -$403.00 million to -$145.00 million.

Compared to where it was 12 months ago, the stock is up, but it has so far lagged the appreciation in the S&P 500. Looking ahead, unless broad bear market conditions prevail, we still see more upside potential for this stock, despite the fact that it has already risen over the past year.

AMEREN CORP reported significant earnings per share improvement in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, AMEREN CORP swung to a loss, reporting -$4.01 versus $2.14 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.10 versus -$4.01).

The debt-to-equity ratio is somewhat low, currently at 0.95, and is less than that of the industry average, implying that there has been a relatively successful effort in the management of debt levels. Even though the company has a strong debt-to-equity ratio, the quick ratio of 0.28 is very weak and demonstrates a lack of ability to pay short-term obligations.

AEE, with its decline in revenue, underperformed when compared the industry average of 2.0%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 11.0%. The declining revenue has not hurt the company's bottom line, with increasing earnings per share.