TransCanada Corporation (USA) (TRP), Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (ABX), and Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (POT): Three Attractive Dividend Payers for Income Investors

Not everything about KeyStone is XL

TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP) reported an increase in first-quarter profit, driven by the returning operation of the Bruce nuclear power plant. The company earned $0.52 per share in the quarter, missing estimates by $0.02 per share. Despite the negative coverage for KeyStone, the company believes the pipeline will be in operation by the second half of 2015. The project is budgeted at $5.3 billion, but TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP) expects this estimate to rise.

The KeyStone XL approval process is now in its 67^th month. TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP) has a $25 billion portfolio of projects.

Fertilizers

Fertilizer producer Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) pays a dividend that yields 2.9%. The company beat forecasts in its Q1 report, earning $0.03 per share more than expected. Revenue was $2.1 billion while earnings were $0.63 per share. Sales volumes rose to 2.2 million metric tons, compensating for the Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) price decline.

Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT)reported strong gross margin of 54% even though Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) prices dropped from $435 per ton to $363 per ton in the quarter. One negative for Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) was its lower guidance. The company expects earnings will be as low as $0.70 per share in the current quarter (Q2). Analysts expected Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) to earn $0.89 per share. Earnings will be $2.75 to $3.25 per share in 2013.

Foolish bottom line

A decline in gold prices will clearly be a negative for Barrick Gold. Barrick has the ability to respond to the decline by changing the cut-off grades and diverting production to the more profitable mines. The company has $2.3 billion in cash, and another $2 billion available in credit, should more capital expenditure be needed as markets improve.

Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) generated higher cash flow of $700 million and earnings (EBITDA) of $1 billion. The healthy results were helped by higher nitrogen prices compared to the previous year. Phosphate prices were lower, hurting sales, but gross margin remained stable.

TransCanada Corporation (USA) (NYSE:TRP) very recently delayed the expected start date for the Keystone XL project to a mid- to late 2015 start. Upside in shares of the company is limited, but the generous dividend makes it an attractive investment.

The article 3 Attractive Dividend Payers for Income Investors originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Chris Lau.

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