Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Any advice about Innergex Renewable Energy and its underperformance compared to other companies in its sector? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Innergex Renewable Energy, $11.03, symbol INE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 100.9 million; Market cap: $1.1 billion; www.innergex.com), is a recommendation of our Canadian Wealth Advisor newsletter. We place Innergex in the Utilities sector, a broad area that includes telecoms, pipelines, power generators and so on. The company generates electricity, but it focuses on renewable energy, including hydroelectric plants, wind farms and solar power. That puts it in something of a niche category among utilities that includes stocks like Algonquin Power & Utilities, $9.73, symbol AQN on Toronto, and Northland Power, $16.99, symbol NPI on Toronto. These firms aim to cut risk by selling power under long-term contracts, but their output varies with sunlight, wind and rainfall. Most utility stocks slumped in mid- to late-2013 because investors worried that rising interest rates would make high-dividend stocks like utilities less attractive. But utilities have since rebounded. Below are some examples of gains since then; you’ll see that Innergex’s rise lines up well with most comparable…