Feature Article

NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) was the first major mover in American renewable energy—forging relationships across the country with prospective customers, local governments and suppliers years ahead of the competition en route to building its current 65 gigawatt capacity operating portfolio. And the company is set to continue that dominance, coming off a record year of 8 GW of new contracts and 5 GW start ups despite supply chain challenges. The Florida Power & Light utility is developing what management calls a 160 GW solar, storage and hydrogen opportunity over the next 20 years. And unregulated NextEra Energy Resources has $71 billion total assets, 30 GW of generation and a backlog of signed contracts for 19 GW more.

The stocks in each portfolio all have the fundamental objective to build wealth. But they’re set up to do it in different ways.

Fortum OYJ (Finland: FORTUM, OTC: FOJCF) is breaking its annual dividend for calendar 2023 into two semi-annual payments for April and October. The total of 91 Euro cents is an effective 20 percent cut from 2022’s annual payment of EUR1.14 per share. Management telegraphed a reduction late last year, when the largesse of the German government allowed it to escape the meltdown of Uniper SE. The company ultimately exited the power generation company and energy retailer it had spent years pursuing with a loss of roughly EUR6 billion.

No doubt about it: The so-called culture war has spread to energy. And as a result, pretty much everyone has an opinion on complex challenges that have historically been left to engineers, physicists and finance guys. The inevitable result: There are literally voices attacking every available energy resource. And from the basic economics of various energy sources to environmental impact it’s all seemingly up for debate.

Mexico’s Peso is up almost 9 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of 2022. That’s as the US Dollar Index (DXY) is up 8 percent, and has gained even more against the Euro and other developed world currencies. The Peso’s strength has made Aggressive Holding America Movil (Mexico: AMXL, NYSE: AMX) a sector outperformer over the past year.

Major infrastructure projects are vulnerable to big cost increases in inflationary times. So while disappointing, TC Energy’s (TSX: TRP, NYSE: TRP) announcement this month of a 30 percent increase in construction costs for its Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline is hardly surprising.

There’s nothing like a solid start to the year to get investors excited for what’s to come. Some use January’s results as a benchmark, others the first six weeks of the year. But whatever the gauge, at this point it looks like the S&P 500 is off to one of its better beginnings in 2023.

Two Utility Report Card companies have cut dividends so far in 2023. Highlighted in the January 12 update “Algonquin Re-Sets: What’s Next,” combination utility and renewable energy producer Algonquin Power & Utilities’ (TSX: AQN, NYSE: AQN) is cutting its common stock dividend by -40 percent to 10.85 cents per share.

It’s been a difficult last few years for US investors to make real money in non-US stocks. One big reason is the US dollar, the strength of which has taken a big bite out of the US dollar value of foreign investments’ dividends and principal.