Merchant Power

02 Jan: NRG Energy (NRG) CFO Kirk Andrews – Follow-Up Interview – The Stock Podcast, Ep.46

NRG Energy’s CFO Kirk Andrews rejoins The Stock Podcast to provide a business update. Tune in to hear Kirk describe NRG’s path to investment grade and what that could mean for the equity value of the company.

NRG is an integrated power producer. The company owns generation assets that primarily sell power at wholesale prices. NRG also operates a large portfolio of retail electricity companies. The integrated nature of NRG’s asset portfolio provides investors with stable cashflows. When power prices are high, the generation business benefits. When power prices are low, the retail business benefits. It’s an impressive mousetrap with high barriers to entry.  

12 Dec: Vistra Energy (VST) CEO Curt Morgan – The Stock Podcast, Ep.43

Vistra Energy’s CEO rejoins The Stock Podcast to provide an update on the VST stock thesis. It’s always a pleasure to have Curt on the program to talk about his company and provide updates on the investment story. VST is one of my personal favorite investment ideas and Curt does a fantastic job of highlighting the key elements of the investment thesis. If you’d like to tune in to the first interview with Curt, click here!

20 Oct: Ken Anderson – Texas Public Utility Commissioner – The Stock Podcast, Ep.18

Ken Anderson served as Commissioner with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) from 2008-2017. Tune in to this episode of The Stock Podcast to hear Ken describes the success of Texas renewable energy, the history of ERCOT, and his views on an ERCOT capacity market. Ken also provides some of his perspectives on the current issues the PUCT will likely have to deal with down the road. In addition, Ken outlines some really interesting regulatory and market considerations regarding Sempra‘s acquisition of Oncor, as well as some of the benefits of limited federal oversight in building out CREZ and potential changes to the regulatory framework in Texas.

By means of background, Ken was a slightly controversial figure for utility investors. Ken’s opposition to an ERCOT capacity market was perplexing for many. However, Commissioner Anderson was unwavering when it came to his views on how deregulated power markets should operate. So far, he’s been spot on. ERCOT and Texas have some of the lowest power prices across the US. Part of this is attributable to strength in the Texas renewable energy industry. Sure, Texas is blessed with an extremely strong wind resource, but the free-market philosophy has helped to ensure growth in the industry, not to mention the construction of the CREZ line. It’s a fascinating success story for renewables.

04 Jul: Steve Fleishman – Wolfe Research Utility Analyst – The Stock Podcast, Ep.12

Steve Fleishman is a Managing Director and Senior Analyst at Wolfe Research. Steve and his team cover the utilities, power, renewables, and midstream sectors at Wolfe Research. Steve has been Wall Street’s top-ranked utility analyst 14 times, so it’s an enormous honor to have him on the podcast! Tune in to hear Steve provide a great utility primer including a brief history of utilities, trends he and his team are following, and some of his thoughts on utility valuations today.

Steve agreed to come onto the program to give listeners of The Stock Podcast a utility primer. So, if you have an interest in utility investing, or you just like to gain an understanding of how utility investors think about the sector, this episode may be what you’re looking for.

You may recall from the Chris Sighinolfi interview that sector specialists like Steve know their industries forward and backward and Steve is a prime example of this. Steve has a reputation for being an extremely thoughtful analyst. If you listen to an earnings call with any of the big utilities, you’ll hear why. He asks questions that, in and of themselves, have a lot of meaning.

Apart from being one of the best analysts on Wall Street, Steve is one of the nicest guys I’ve met in the industry. He’s genuinely concerned about people, as well as their stock-picking performance. He was also one of a handful of Wall Street analysts that actually reached out to me after I quit my job to start this podcast. I consider myself fortunate to be able to call Steve a friend and he’s doing me and my listeners a big honor by coming onto the podcast.

06 Jun: Kirk Andrews – CFO of NRG Energy (NRG) – Part II – The Stock Podcast, Ep.8

Part 2 of the interview with NRG Energy‘s EVP and CFO, Kirk Andrews. The second part of the interview addresses some of the changes the company has gone through over the past several years, the Transformation Plan that was outlined in mid-2017, and Kirk’s capital allocation philosophy. Importantly, Kirk talks about the potential uses of cash over the next few years. It’s a great interview with a CFO for whom I have a ton of respect.

31 May: Kirk Andrews – CFO of NRG Energy (NRG), The Stock Podcast Ep.7

Kirk Andrews, EVP and CFO of NRG Energy (NRG), discusses the history of NRG and describes some of the big factors that have affected the merchant power generation industry since the turn of the century. Part 1 of the Kirk Andrews interview provides some really interesting background on the power business in general, and fascinating insights into possibly the most underappreciated subsectors in the market today.