Special reason to hold ALA going into earningsMany people may think the third quarter is only a yawn. It is their weakest quarter and they do not announce dividend increases typically until their December plan for the next year is released which last year was December 10th. While an early dividend announcement is always possible it is not likely. It is also possible they will raise guidance once again but more likely indicate that the toal year EPS will bee at the high end of previous guidance.
However if you go back 12 months to the conference call discussion there was a lot of interest in discussing the possible split of the company to try to create two clean entities for investors to perhaps realize full value - one in the utilities filed and one in the midstream. Randy acknowledged then that this idea may have merit but that he was not ready to do so until he had integrated Petrogas ful;y into their operations and shown the efficiencies possible.
If he gives a signal now that he is more ready to do that split I think all analysts would see that as a probable significant positive for the company as they think ALA remains undervalued due to the mixted assets of two kinds of businesses. Speculation about what that higher value might be could drive the stock higher and cause Shorts to do real covering. It may not yet be a high probability event but if it happens we should see more than just positive results which should also take us well above the $ 26 mark. So I see a special reason to be fully invested in ALA before earnings. GL