thoughts from the outside As a serious investor in renewable energy companies, I was made aware of WND a short while ago. While it appears that the company is making progress towards being profitable, I am a bit concerned about the behavior of management. The first thing that struck me was the extremely unprofessional news release they issued in response to the unsolicited bid by AQN. While I can understand their frustration with having some of their major shareholders wanting to bail out, putting out a news release that looks like it was written by a six year old having a temper tantrum is unsettling.
Then there was the news in October about them negotiating a new wind project in "the southern United States" under "confidential terms, but then they claim the " the contract price is above $120per MW/hr". Well, if it confidential, they shouldn't be releasing details. And they did it again with the new PPA on Mesa, stating "Terms of the deal are confidential, but we can disclose the price received will double the revenues received from Mesa." Well, it wouldn't be hard for anyone to back off the revenue numbers to come up with PPA price, thus negating the confidentiality.
And then there are all of the news releases touting their tax breaks and how management is doing such a wonderful job. Now most companies I invest in release news about their projects and financial reports, but not one of them spends any time talking about their subsidies, and absolutely never tout their own management. Everyone knows subsidies are vital to making these projects viable, so WND is definitely not unique in receiving them. So why make such a big deal about it?
It all adds up to a climate of concern over just what their priorites are, and may explain why the share price continues to suffer. Eventually fundamentals will rule the day, and the share price will reflect the profitability of their projects. But those who are pretending that the share price is going to $5 are either fooling themselves, or trying to fool others.