The Knights Who Say NEE!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, Great Ones!
The Great Stuff Team and I are about to settle in for a long winter’s nap, and with no “rose suchak ladder” going on in the market today, we figured we’d give you a Great Stuff holiday mix to end the holiday week!
Today, you’re getting a Reader Feedback answer — Robert D., you lucky dog — a quick-and-dirty version of the Thursday Throwdown and a Christmas poll!
We’ve even got a Christmas queen!
You do think I’m beautiful, don’t you, Mr. Great Stuff?
You didn’t answer me right away. You had to think about it first, didn’t you?
Good grief! Hold up there, Lucy. This is a financial e-zine, not Tinder.
And with that in mind, let’s get right to the festivities:
I would like to know your opinion on NEE.
Thank you, Robert D.
Short and sweet, Robert! Thank you for writing in.
For those of you playing the home game, NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) is a utilities company. It generates, transmits, distributes and sells electrical power in North America.
On the surface, NextEra has the unassuming look of your regular old power company, generating electricity with coal, fossil fuel and natural gas. But a deeper dive reveals that NextEra really is next era.
The company is among the most aggressive power companies in terms of adopting alternative or green energy sources. NextEra has rolled out wind, solar and nuclear power plants, and it’s even leading the charge into hydrogen power!
Aaah. There it is. I knew there was a reason Mr. Great Stuff was using exclamation points for this stock.
Yes, Robert and fellow Great Ones, NextEra Energy is an up-and-coming player in the hydrogen power market.
Y’all already know about Plug Power (Nasdaq: PLUG), Hyzon Motors (Nasdaq: HYZN) and a plethora of other hydrogen power players, but NextEra Energy operates on an entirely different scale.
You see, while Plug and Hyzon focus on mobile hydrogen power, NextEra is putting hydrogen fuel-cell technology to use in mass power generation … i.e., entire power plants that service large communities of people, all with hydrogen power.
You’ve heard all those people complaining that electric vehicles (EVs) and cryptos consume too much power, thus making them ultimately not green? NextEra is the answer to that problem.
I get at least one email a week deriding EVs for their strain on the existing power grid and how they aren’t truly “green,” since the power they’re using comes from coal or natural gas.
While this is true for the time being, NextEra is working to change all that with solar, wind, nuclear and hydrogen power — a red-hot cocktail of green-energy generation.
OK, we get it. You looove your hydrogen power. You wanna hug it. You wanna kiss it.
But, is NextEra making any moolah? Any cash? I don’t want a lump of coal in my Christmas stocking, Mr. Great Stuff…
Funny you mention that, Great Ones, because NextEra beat Wall Street’s earnings estimates in each of the past four quarters. And those returns are about to get even better with President Biden’s recently passed infrastructure bill.
Here’s CEO Jim Robo talking about the bill’s impact during NextEra’s last quarterly earnings call:
But, you don’t have to take just my words or the words of NextEra’s CEO for it. Here’s Bank of America Global Research extolling the virtues of NextEra earlier this month:
So, Robert, what are my thoughts on NextEra? I like the company. I like the stock. I like the 1.7% dividend yield. I like it so much that NEE stock has been in the Great Stuff Picks portfolio since October 2020.
Great Ones who bought NEE last October sit on a gain of roughly 29% — and that’s not including NextEra’s dividend payouts during the past year.
Now, NEE isn’t gonna go gangbusters like Plug or Hyzon (eventually). This is more of a stable, long-term, buy-and-hold kinda investment — the kind you can safely buy and forget about.
How’s that sound, Robert? I hope that answers your question. Thank you again for writing in, and happy holidays!
Remember, Great Stuff is doing its impression of a Hallmark holiday movie this week. We’re heading home to see family and friends. We’ll be back one last time tomorrow, but then we’re off until December 28.
And if you’re still looking for a few new energy plays — the ultimate stocking stuffer, might I say — we’ve got you covered. If you’re not ready to dive headfirst into the hydrogen hoopla just yet … check this out:
One new technology is rolling out to power 50 million homes and businesses, setting up a new market 10X bigger than EVs — and you can buy in right away.
Click here for the full story.
No, really. Nikola (Nasdaq: NKLA) posted a picture of the company delivering its first zero-emission electric truck on its Twitter page Wednesday afternoon, with the promise of “more to come” sometime soon.
The delivery marks a huge milestone for naughty-by-nature Nikola, whose past misdeeds made it the recent target of a $125 million fine by the SEC. And by “recent,” I really mean **checks notes** two days ago.
As you can imagine, it’s been a wild, winding week for NKLA investors. First, the fickle fine on top of the news that continued production delays are hampering deliveries. And now the soothing salve of a surprise shipment to ease the burn of its sizeable sanction.
It’s almost like that Twitter post was planned or something, huh?
Regardless, NKLA stock is up nearly 18% on today’s upbeat news, which is a nice change of pace from the dreadful decline it’s been on for most of the year.
Don’t worry — you’ll never hear that combination of words again. Especially not from yours truly.
As far as crocodilian-based clog maker Crocs (Nasdaq: CROX) is concerned, not even a buyout of fellow casual shoemaker Heydude can save Crocs’ street cred now. You can rant at me all you want in the inbox about how Crocs are the ultimate blend of comfort, utility and “IDGAF je ne sais quois” … but I’m not buying.
Anyway, I do commend Crocs for capitalizing on the dire need for casual shoes amid the pandemic. Crocs naturally promote social distancing, after all, and no one can see your Crocs over Zoom (thank God).
The company’s $2.5 billion buyout of privately held Heydude will give Crocs a foothold in shoe designs that, well, don’t look like Crocs. Heydude is estimated to bring in $570 million this year — with about 43% of those sales from online shoppers, which bodes well for Crocs’ own expanding digital footprint.
CROX investors were “rewarded” with a 3% sell-off on the news because not even Crocs wants to be saved from the fashion abyss…
I Myself Am Something Of A Mechanic
I know there’s a YouTube video for pretty much anything these days, but until General Motors (NYSE: GM) releases a step-by-step walkthrough that pairs with its new electric vehicle (EV) component sets, I don’t see anyone actually using this tech unless they happened to be a mechanic in a former life.
That’s right, Great Ones. Thanks to GM’s new components lineup, anyone can turn their gas guzzlers into an EV … if they have the time, money, patience and downright fortitude to tear their cars apart and put them back together again:
In theory, electrifying cars currently on the road is a smart transitional step toward further EV adoption … and fits with GM’s aggressive plan for an all-electric future.
The problem is usability. The average Joe isn’t gonna go out and get himself an EV converter set for Christmas … or any other day of the year, for that matter. Trained professionals are the target demographic here.
But when you factor in the cost of paying a professional to pimp your ride … and hoping nothing goes wrong in the process … does it really offset the cost of buying a real EV in the first place?
Methinks not. Besides, it’s only a matter of time before GM’s “DIY” kits are old hat themselves…
According to Charles Mizrahi, a brand-new battery technology could soon power EVs for 1,000 miles — on a single charge. It’s small enough to fit in your pocket — and can be charged in just 15 minutes, making the company that pioneered this new technology the investment of a lifetime.
Throw Some SPACs On The Barbie
You know it’s a slow news day when we’re talking TikTok-inspired griddle SPACs. And yet, here we are.
This morning, TikTok grilling titan Blackstone Products announced that it would jump out of the proverbial frying pan and into the woodchip-stoked fire: Blackstone plans to merge with special-purpose acquisition company Ackrell SPAC Partners I in a deal that values the outdoor griddle maker at roughly $780 million.
That’s a lot of hotcakes, Great Ones.
Blackstone joins a lengthening list of outdoor cooking equipment companies to go public during the pandemic, including Weber (NYSE: WEBR) and Traeger (NYSE: COOK).
But considering shares of these companies have fallen more than 30% in the last quarter, the steaks have never been higher for wannabe Blackstone investors.
Oh grate, here we go again with the puns…
Wow. Tough crowd. I guess when it comes to grilling puns and grilling SPACs, it’s best to let them marinate!
Poll day? On a Thursday? Why, what better way to round out the merry market medley!
If you were wondering about last week’s poll results, the long, long wait is over! We asked you just how deep into the murky metaverse waters you were willing to go … as an investor, at least.
Basically, how interested in the metaverse are you?
Rarely do we see such a divided spread among you Great Ones. Only 7.7% of you said you were meta even before Facebook was Meta, while 32.5% of you only care about the metaverse’s moolah-making potential. (Turns out, Jessie J., it is all about the money, money, money.)
Another 23.4% of you are just waiting for the right trade to come along … because apparently, the five metaverse plays we listed out for you just didn’t scratch the digital itch.
But by and large, the majority of you — with 36.4% of the vote — would rather just go back offline at this point. And that’s all fine and dandy … but answer today’s new poll question before you disappear back into the “real world,” capisce?
In this week’s oh-so-civil debate, we want you to decide on who’s the grinchiest Grinch of them all — the classic Christmas character who’s just rife with anti-holiday spirit!
In other words: Who’s your favorite Christmas villain? (And no, Jerome Powell is not an option.)
Click below and let me know!
With that, I hand it over to you, Great Ones!
If you have any lingering market questions, investing what-ifs or oddball rants rumbling ‘round your noggin, why not drop us a line?
GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com is your home for hot takes and spit takes, investing questions and random market tomfoolery too. Whatever you want to write, we want to read!
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Until next time, stay Great!
Regards,
Joseph Hargett
Editor, Great Stuff