Q: I’m finally back in black on Algonquin Power. Invested in it for the USD dividend that still qualified for the dividend tax credit. Would you hold or get out? thx
5i Research Answer:
AQN trades at an OK multiple of 18X forward earnings, it pays a 3.5% yield, but growth has been slow and there have been several issues at the company.
It has turnaround potential, and forward growth estimates are decent, but largely we would prefer to own a higher-quality utilities name like FTS or H here. FTS is at a similar valuation of 19X forward earnings, has a similar yield of 3.8%, but its history of growth and profitability has been much cleaner than AQN, and its balance sheet is solid. H is at a slight premium valuation (24X forward earnings), its yield is a bit lower (2.6%), but forward earnings growth is expecting to be strong, and its profitability trends are also quite clean relative to AQN.