Moody's ups Southwest Gas

Moody's Investors Service said it upgraded the senior unsecured rating of Southwest Gas Corp. to Baa2 from Baa3, underlying senior unsecured rating to Baa2 from Baa3, senior unsecured shelf to provisional Baa2 from provisional Baa3 and preferred shelf to provisional Ba1 from provisional Ba2.

The outlook is stable.

The upgrade follows improvements in Southwest's cash flow credit metrics, which should be sustained for the foreseeable future, Moody's said.

Even in the face of an economic downturn in Southwest's primary service territories, financial results for 2009 were generally robust, the agency said.

The improvement comes primarily as a result of recent rate relief in all of Southwest's regulatory jurisdictions, Moody's said, and the company's continued effort to minimize costs.

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