Atlas Pipeline Partners declares record dividend
Atlas Pipeline Partners | Investor Relations : News Release
Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL: 42.60 +0.03 +0.07%) declared a $.93 quarterly dividend for 2007 Q4 to be paid in February. This is an 8% increase over 2006 Q4.
The inter-related companies all declared dividends so make sure you get the right one. I gave a review of this company earlier this month. I believe the stocks selected here for their income possibilities will provide a growing income and stock price over time.
Headwaters quarterly conference call
I just listened to the Headwaters (HW: 11.44 +0.29 +2.60%) 2008 Q1 conference call. Revenues and profits were down due to the previously discussed wind down of their tax advantaged clean energy business (the tax credits have basically ceased).
The other businesses of the company appear poised for strong future growth and I am still positive on the company as a component of my 20 Stock Portfolio. Here are a couple of thoughts/notes:
- Building materials are maintaining profits in spite of housing downturn. Combination of being in a better market area (Texas), new product lines, increased efficiencies, and environmentally responsible products are maintaining sales in this area. Profit growth should be exponential when house building turns up.
- Coal cleaning business, which is considered the replacement for discontinued alt. energy business, should start generating significant revenues in 2008. Long term prospects are excellent.
- Other businesses: HCAT, ethanol and hydrogen peroxide production have significant future profit potential. Currently they do not provide meaningful bottom line results.
- When asked if a U.S. recession would affect business, the CEO responded that their building materials were already in a recession and their other business provided goods/services with strong demand despite the overall economy.
I added this stock to the 20 Stock Portfolio as a company with meaningful turn-around prospects. I think those prospects still exist, and this stock should provide excellent returns over the next couple of years.
Note: I currently do not have a position in HW.
NEX / PBD weekly update
The NEX, New Energy Index which is tracked by the ETF PowerShares Global Clean Energy Trust (PBD: 29.29 +0.43 +1.49%), one of this site’s 20 Stock Portfolio components, finished last week up 6.1%. As you can see from the chart further below the index is down quite a bit from recent highs, so it is nice to see a strong weekly performance.
The numbers below show the biggest gainers and losers for the index. With volatility like that I believe it is too hard to pick winners in the renewable energy space at this time, so I believe PBD is the best place to get exposure there.
NEX top gainers since 22/01/08
Solon AG fuer Solartechnik + 36.2%
Cree CREE + 25.0%
Zhejiang Yankon Group Co. Ltd. + 21.7%
Roth & Rau R8R + 18.5%
Hansen Transmissions HSN + 18.4%
NEX top losers since 22/01/08
Arima Optoelectronics - 21.0%
Yingli Green Energy Holding YGE - 15.0%
Comverge COMV - 14.8%
Novozymes A/S Series B NZYM’B - 14.3%
Anhui BBCA Biochemical Co. Ltd. A - 13.1%
Source: Newenergyfinance.com
Note: I currently do not have a position in PBD.
Stock Review: AFP BBVA Provida
It took me half the day just to figure out what to call this company. The actual company name is Administradora de Fondo de Pensiones Provida. It is a pension fund administrator, known in the Spanish speaking world as an AFP. The company is majority owned by the Spanish banking giant ($85 billion market cap) BBVA (BBV: 23.90 +0.05 +0.21%) so the name gets condensed into BBVA Provida (PVD: 35.12 +0.37 +1.06%). BBVA has banks and AFPs in at least nine Latin American countries and as far as I can tell PVD is the only subsidiary trading as a separate stock and ADR.
BBVA Provida is the largest of the six major AFP’s in Chile. In 1981 Chile privatized their social security pension plan system, so now all employees have mandatory payroll deduction pension deposits that go to an AFP such as BBVA Provida. Almost 70% of Chilean workers pay an mandatory 10% of their pay into their individual social security accounts. They can voluntarily increase the contribution another 10% of wages. An additional 2.4% of wages is taken to cover the administrative costs of the plan.
The 2.4% cut is the primary revenue stream for the AFP’s. About 0.65% is for life and disability insurance, the rest is administrative charges, i.e. revenue for the AFP. From my research, it appears the company gets an additional 0.50% management fee on the assets under management.
BBVA Provida, as the largest AFP in Chile, has approximately $36 billion under management. The company has a market capitalization of about $800 million. Stock in BBVA Provida trade in the U.S. as and ADR with the symbol PVD. I like the stock for a couple of reasons:
- Assets, revenues, and net profits have been growing at a 20%+ rate for the last 3 years. The shares currently trade at a 7.7 trailing PE. This is near the bottom of the historical PE range for PVD.
- Healthy, if somewhat variable, dividends are paid twice a year. Averaging the last 3 years dividend into the current share price shows a 3.2% yield.
- The company give a broad exposure to the growth of the Chilean economy. The revenue streams are constant and profit margins should stay firm.
Negatives would be recent market down turns reducing assets under management and possible contribution levels. A remote possibility is that social security laws are changed in Chile that negatively impact profit margins.
BVA Provida will now become the 19th component of this site’s 20 Stock Portfolio. With this portfolio I am following growth and income opportunities that I find attractive.
Note: I currently do not have a position in PVD.
Inergy, L.P. Declares 25th Consecutive Increase in Quarterly Cash Distribution
Nice to see some good news after three days away from the computer and financial news. Inergy L.P. (NRGY: 28.09 +0.63 +2.29%) is a component of this site’s 20 Stock Portfolio and it is now yielding around 8.5%.
Earnings and dividend declarations will be coming out over the next few weeks. I am looking for some good news (relative to market pessimism) to help stock prices rebound. I am always looking for individual stocks that I believe can grow their business and earnings.
Note: I have a long position in NRGY.
A couple of days off and other thoughts
I am going to be away up country for a few days and leaving the laptop behind. Probably good time to take a few days off. I find it interesting that the page views on this site go up and down at about the same rate and time the market does. When the market is going up, many more seem to want to read about investments, on the way down fewer want to read about stocks.
I am pretty much fully invested in stocks (with the money in the accounts for that purpose) at this time. I made a couple of purchase as prices of interesting stocks fell, but no where near the current lows. I am not a good predictor of when the market will go down, and also not when it will rebound. My process is to look for good companies with stocks that will appreciate or pay an excellent income over time. From this point they are more attractive than they were 10% or 15% higher.
A new news cycle for earnings is about to hit, so I am looking forward to see how the companies of the stocks I discuss here have fared in there pursuit of profits. Fear currently rules the market, but some good earnings news can turn that around.
I hope the market rebounds significantly in the next few days, but the emotional swings of the overall market are not something I can predict.
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