Public Company

0 0
By Abercrombie Energy Public Company Renewables Utilities

12 Mar: Bob Frenzel – CFO of Xcel Energy (XEL) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.27

Bob Frenzel is the CFO at Xcel Energy (XEL), one of the largest and greenest utilities in the US. Tune in to the Buyside podcast to hear Bob breakdown everything you’ve wanted to know about utility investing. Topics discussed include the regulatory process, renewable energy, carbon-free target, replacement cost, and how to value utilities.

In this interview, you’ll hear Bob talk about some of the elements that are required for a utility to be, well, a great utility. You’ll also hear about Xcel’s carbon-free ambitions and what the company will have to do to achieve their targets. And here’s a spoiler, achieving a carbon-free generation portfolio isn’t solely based on wind, solar, and batteries. The solution is actually much more complicated than pundits would like you to believe.

Bob also does a great job of describing just what the regulatory process is like for a utility, how a utility justifies spending money that we, as ratepayers, essentially pay for, and Bob also talks a little about how a utility determines the rates that we as customers must pay. As someone who likes to talk about the future of electric generation and utilities, having Bob on the program is a real treat, but for me, there are two really interesting topics that are discussed.

The first is the fact that regulated utilities don’t generate a ton of free cash flow. That’s because they’re constantly reinvesting into the grid. The second relates to replacement cost or replacement value. I won’t spoil that last one. It’s a doozy, at least for the value investors out there!

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Energy Industrials Most Popular Public Company Technology

11 Feb: Lynn Mueller – CEO of Sharc Energy Systems (SHRC) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.25

Lynn Mueller is the Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Sharc Energy Systems (SHRC / INTWF). Sharc Energy has a patented system of recovering thermal energy from wastewater. Tune in to The Stock Podcast to hear Lynn describe one of the most interesting heat recovery and energy recycling systems around today. It’s a truly fascinating interview about a company and a technology that could alter the course of natural gas demand going forward.

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Energy Materials & Mining Public Company Utilities

01 Jan: Jimmy Brock and David Khani – CEO and CFO of CONSOL Energy (CEIX) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.23

CONSOL Energy’s CEO, Jimmy Brock, and CONSOL’s CFO, David Khani, join The Stock Podcast to describe the CONSOL investment thesis and the business of mining coal. CONSOL is one of the premier coal producers in the country. Tune in to hear management talk about the outlook for the business, the industry, and one of the most valuable coal assets in North America, the Pennsylvania Mining Complex.

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Energy Midstream Most Popular Public Company

12 Dec: Wouter van Kempen – CEO of DCP Midstream (DCP) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.22

Wouter van Kempen is the Chairman and CEO of DCP Midstream, the largest natural gas gathering and processor company in the United States. Tune in to hear Wouter describe DCP‘s operational footprint, the game-changing technological advancements his company is implementing, and a truly compelling investment story.

DCP Midstream is one of a few MLPs that can boast of having consistently delivered on the inherent agreement between shareholder and management. The agreement relates to the cash the company distributes to investors via the dividend. Sure, one could argue that DCP is a troubled investment story, evidenced by the lack of dividend growth since the commodity price collapse of 2014. However, Wouter van Kempen and his team have done a phenomenal job steering DCP through a very uncertain period of the North American energy cycle and has delivered on one of the most critical components of the MLP investment thesis – stable distributions to shareholders!

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Public Company REIT

28 Nov: Will Eglin – CEO of Lexington Realty Trust (LXP) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.20

Will Eglin is the CEO of Lexington Realty Trust (LXP). Tune in to hear Will describe Lexington‘s portfolio transformation from a commercial REIT to an industrial REIT, the outlook for the LXP dividend, and the most important insider’s perspective on the value in LXP stock.

Lexington Realty is a REIT that has been around for years. But the business model has changed over time. Today is one of those times of change, especially as management sees the writing on the wall with respect to commercial real estate values and rents. LXP has already started the process of transitioning from a commercial REIT to an Industrial REIT. In order to achieve this goal, management has plans for re-rating the LXP dividend to a lower level.

Despite the dividend pause, there appears to be value in LXP stock. At the time of this interview, net debt is down to a manageable 4.3x EBITDA, and the company has completely repaid its revolver. Management has committed to buy back shares, while at the same time determined to transform itself into an industrial REIT by acquiring industrial properties – potentially up to $200M of industrial assets this year alone.

Assuming the company can execute on their plans, the LXP dividend could be resumed at 55-65% of 2019 FFO. I’ll note that consensus pegs the LXP dividend at $0.40-$0.48/share. That’s down meaningfully from 2017, but still juicy enough for The Stock Podcast and rationale real estate investors to Lexington Realty’s shares.

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Industrials Public Company

14 Nov: Devina Rankin – CFO of Waste Management (WM) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.19

Devina Rankin is the CFO and SVP of Waste Management (WM), the largest waste services company in North America. In this episode of The Stock Podcast, Devina provides a brief history of the company and a great overview of the waste management business. Tune in if you’d like to learn about the waste management business, the recycling industry, and how landfills work.

I realize that Waste Management probably doesn’t need an introduction. Just about everyone out there has probably seen WM’s big green trucks driving around town. However, the waste management business is much more than just picking up trash. There’s a lot that goes on behind the scene that we don’t see. Running a waste management business is very complex, and that’s why it’s great to have Devina on the program to describe how they grew to become the leading waste services provider in North America.

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Energy Infrastructure Public Company Renewables Utilities

09 Oct: Tom O’Flynn – CFO of AES Corporation (AES) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.17

Tom O’Flynn is the CFO of AES Corporation (AES). Tom provides a great overview of AES Corporation’s business model. He also discusses some really interesting catalysts for the company and highlights a compelling investment case for the shares of AES’ stock.

AES is a power company, but it’s different from regulated utilities, IPPs, and yieldcos, yet at the same time has similar characteristics. The asset portfolio includes traditional generation facilities, renewables, and a lot of the essential infrastructure required to produce and transmit electricity. Since the current management took the reins in 2011, they’ve pruned the portfolio, with more than $5B in asset sales over the past 7 years and exited 13 countries. During that time, management reduced parent level debt by $2B, cut costs by $300M, and they’ve returned almost $3B of cash to shareholders.

Part of the return to shareholders has been through dividends, and AES has also bought back about 16% of their stock since 2011. Another interesting fact is that the company has reduced coal generation capacity by about 20% over the past three years, and they’ve replaced a large portion of that capacity with renewable energy. De-risking the business has also been a key priority. Management has reduced AES’ FX exposure to around 15% from 40%.

Maybe one of the most interesting facts about AES Corp is that they are the largest owner of battery storage in the world, and the recently announced storage JV with Siemens called Fluence. The Fluence JV positions AES extremely well for the future. One of the reasons the battery JV is so interesting is because of the growth outlook. Generally speaking, growth investors aren’t interested in utilities. That’s because, double-digit earnings growth in utility-land is almost unheard of, at least not on multi-year outlook.

Another potentially big catalyst for AES Corp includes IMO 2020. This is a gross oversimplification, but IMO 2020 puts a cap on the amount of sulphur shipping vessels are allowed to use in fuel oil. This global regulation bodes well for global LNG demand. And with respect to debt, individual projects financed with non-recourse term debt, which means there is a natural deleveraging component to the business.

Something I like about this management team is that they’re focused on what they know, understand, and where they believe they have a competitive advantage. This perspective led to reducing the number of countries where they operate and becoming more acutely focused on developing and owning long-lived infrastructure assets.

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Energy Public Company Renewables Utilities

01 Oct: Nathan Kroeker – CEO of Spark Energy (SPKE) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.16

Nathan Kroeker is the President and CEO of Spark Energy (SPKE). Tune in to hear Nathan describe Spark Energy’s business model and why he thinks SPKE stock is undervalued. Nathan also shares his thoughts on the outlook for the industry, and an explanation as to why the retail energy services business is misunderstood by the broader market. Most importantly, he outlines the most important aspects of the SPKE investment story and highlights the key elements of a really compelling investment idea.

Spark went public in 2014 and was largely considered a roll-up story. Retail electricity businesses were trading really low multiples. So, SPKE could use its public currency, which carried a higher multiple, to roll-up private retail business at lower multiples. Recently, however, Nathan Kroeker shifted the company’s priorities to organic growth, and to optimize the business. Management expects to achieve 20M in cost savings from some discrete integration initiatives, which is a big deal for a company that generates less than $100M in EBITDA. Cash flows could grow meaningfully next year for Spark, especially since earn-out payments from previous acquisitions will be completed by mid-2019.

Read More
0 0
By Abercrombie Energy Public Company Renewables Utilities

17 Jul: Chad Plotkin – CFO of Clearway Energy (CWEN) – The Stock Podcast, Ep.13

Clearway Energy’s CFO Chad Plotkin joins the podcast to talk about the renewable energy business. Clearway Energy (CWEN), known previously as NRG Yield (NYLD), is one of the biggest owners of renewable energy facilities in the US. Tune in to hear Chad talk about the history of the company, the Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) acquisition, and how CWEN’s diversified asset portfolio differentiates this yieldco from the others. It’s an extremely insightful interview, especially for investors who want to learn more about the natural deleveraging that occurs for renewable energy businesses.

Read More
1 2 3