While natural gas producers have been suffering from stubbornly low prices since the advent of the shale gas boom, companies engaged in gathering, processing, transmitting, and distributing natural gas have actually been doing quite well. One such company benefiting from such trends is Spectra Energy
Company snapshot:
Market Cap | $20.6 billion |
Net Debt | $11.2 billion |
TTM Operating Cash Flow | $2.1 billion |
TTM Capital Expenditures | $1.8 billion |
Price-to-OCF Ratio | 9.9 |
Recent Price | $31.55 |
Dividend Yield | 3.5% |
Source: S&P Capital IQ. TTM = trailing 12 months.
Spectra has indeed been benefiting from low natural gas prices, which has been increasing demand for the commodity. Spectra operates a diverse portfolio of assets in the U.S. and Western Canada. The company's strategy is to be there at the first and last mile, connecting large demand markets with diverse sources of supply. The company's ongoing target is to achieve 10%-12% returns on capital employed. From 2007 to 2011, the company has achieved about 14%, exceeding its goal.
However, with the share price at a new 52-week high, it's more important to know whether the company can continue to perform. After all, we care where the company's going to go in the future. Given the company's diverse portfolio of assets, Spectra sees opportunities to invest up to $15 billion by the end of the decade at the target return of 10%-12%, and that's without even counting the opportunities in its DCP Midstream business.
Many sources of growth
In Western Canada, the company's gathering and processing are done on an attractive fee-for-service basis. Spectra has 16 plants in operation, with three more slated to come on line going forward. Spectra expects this business to generate 60% of its Canadian earnings in 2012. In addition to gathering and processing, Spectra has also made moves to be relevant in exporting LNG from British Columbia's West Coast.
In the U.S., Spectra sees favorable demand characteristics due to low gas prices. In the Northeast alone, there are 46 coal-fired power plants representing 51,000 megawatts of generation capacity within 30 miles of the company's pipelines. Capturing just 10% of the potential 10 billion cubic feet per day opportunity would lead to a marked increase in demand.
In addition to electric generation, residences are converting from oil to natural gas to heat homes at a high rate, given the attractive price of natural gas. This could mean additional increases to capacity, which would mean more business for Spectra.
Also, the low price of natural gas has spurred other LNG projects. Last year, Cheniere
Finally, Spectra jointly owns DCP Midstream with ConocoPhillips
Foolish bottom line
All told, Spectra expects to utilize its varied expansion projects to increase earnings per share over the next three years at 7%-9% and to continue earning 10%-12% on its capital employed for a long time. Continued success should lead to additional dividend increases as well. I'm leery about the stock's new 52-week high, but it's hard to deny the company's execution on its growth strategies thus far.
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