HOW TO PLAY IT
earns money by investing in renewable power projects globally. It has 5,288 hydroelectric, wind and solar power generation and storage facilities located in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Apart from scale, Brookfield’s investment appeal is its objective to achieve 12% to 15% annualized total returns, including a healthy cash distribution. The current annual dividend yield is 4.4%. The mean revenue forecast for 2020 is $3 billion, an increase of 2% year over year. Free cash flow in
2019 was $1.02 billion, or $5.81 per share. That’s more than enough to maintain a strong cash dividend and make new investments to grow the
business.
gion has some of the nation’s richest coal beds, and thousands of mining jobs paying an average of $100,000 once provided a foundation for the Navajo middle class. But it couldn’t last. The inexorable death of the Navajo coal industry began nearly two decades ago when California decided that power generated by burning coal was too dirty to use. Neighboring states followed that lead. Across the U.S., the amount of coal being burned in power plants is at a 42-year low.
Good thing NTEC isn’t relying only on domestic demand, then. One overseas customer is Japanese utility Jera, which has contracted to buy about 1 million tons of coal per year from NTEC. That tonnage will help fuel the two new coal-burning power plants Jera is building in Fukushima Prefecture, where they will replace the electrical output of the nuclear reactors that melted down in 2011.
All well and good, but it’s hardly transitioning away from coal or improving relations with tribal leaders. “We’re conscious of their reaction and understand their position,” says NTEC chairman McLaughlin. “Moving forward we’ll make sure we communicate on a constant basis.” They’ve already communicated their next move: investing in a rare-earths mine in west Texas.
FINAL THOUGHT
“DOING A BAD THING FOR A GOOD END JUST SOURS THE GOOD.”
—Janice Hardy