CIBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Catellier updated his view on the income-heavy utilities and power sectors,
“We still believe there’s good value across the power / renewable space and remain constructive on that sub-segment … AQN and EMA both can use asset sales to de-risk their balance sheets but may not get a material multiple re-rating given higher payout ratios … Power: Q1 results were better than expected for most Power stocks, which helped these stocks rally in the last month. Further, BEP’s Microsoft agreement was timely given the excitement of load growth from data centres/GenAI. Based on our conversations with investors, the positive momentum and rally might pause, though the fundamental picture is steadily improving with more discipline on growth … BLX and BEP would be our preferred names to play the renewables space. TA has come off its 52-week low thanks to strong Q1 results and potential for more buybacks. We believe there’s more room to run on TA … Midstream/Pipelines: Q1/24 results generally exceeded or were in line with expectations (7% above consensus, on average; six beats and zero misses) given strong core infrastructure performance and marketing strength. LCFS posted a notable beat due to higher HDRD utilization, and ALA, ENB, KEY, and PPL outperformance showed broad strength in all segments. WMB beat on strength in the upstream and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments”
Mr. Catellier has “outperformer” ratings on Superior Plus Corp., Enbridge Inc., Pembina Pipeline Corp., Tidewater Renewables Ltd., AltaGas Ltd., Brookfield Infrastructure and Gibson Energy Corp.