Aggressive Income Feature

Since the beginning of 2022, the Japanese Yen has dropped by almost -20 percent against the US dollar. That’s shrunk a 29.8 percent year-to-date local market gain in shares of dominant Japanese telecom Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (Tokyo: 9432, OTC: NTTYY) to a return of just 1.3 percent in US dollar terms.

Shares of Aggressive Holding Avangrid Inc (NYSE: AGR) trade basically where they began 2022. That underperformance of the Dow Jones Utility Average is no surprise, with the US arm of 81.65 percent owner Iberdrola SA (Spain: IBE, IBDRY) facing regulatory and operating uncertainty on three fronts. And Wall Street is obviously skeptical, with six “underweight/underperform/sell” recommendations by Bloomberg Intelligence-tracked analysts last month.

Companies operating in multiple businesses frequently trade at a “conglomerate discount” to more focused rivals. This month, Aggressive Holding MDU Resources (NYSE: MDU) became the latest utility to simplify—announcing a tax-free spinoff to shareholders of its Knife River construction materials division.

Last month, Aggressive Holding AES Corp (NYSE: AES) bought a 183-megawatt capacity wind power facility in Mississippi from Vestas Wind Systems (Denmark: VWS, OTC: VWSYF). It started up 96 MW of solar/storage projects in Massachusetts and New York. And it forged a consortium with Clearway Energy (NYSE: CWEN) to buy 7 gigawatts of solar panels annually from US manufacturers starting in 2024.

Last month’s Labor Party’s victory in parliamentary elections is a sea change for Australian energy policy. And long-suffering shareholders of AGL Energy (ASX: AGL, OTC: AGLXY) are now uniquely positioned to benefit.

Even before the Commerce Department launched its probe of imports from Southeast Asia, the cost of solar panel costs was as much as 50 percent higher in the US than Europe and Australia. And Solar Energy Industries Association members have cut 2022-23 installation forecasts by 46 percent, on the prospect of new retroactive tariffs as high as 250 percent.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the unexpectedly severe global reaction to it have understandably triggered mass selling of any company with perceived exposure. Among the damaged is Aggressive Holding Enel SpA (Italy: ENEL, OTC: ENLAY).

On February 2, Conservative Holding Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) closed the long-awaited spinoff of its wholesale power generation and retail energy arm. Shareholders received one share of the new company, Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG), for every three Exelon. And I’ve added the stock to the Aggressive Holdings.