30
Sep
T.G.I.F.
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Housekeeping Watch: Are we using the correct email for you? If you're not getting ZBLAST's or are getting them at the wrong address contact zman@zmansenergybrain.com
In today's post please find:
- the natural gas review (upper end of our range; next week look for a similar to slightly larger build),
- comments and a cheat sheet update for GNRC,
- and some other odds and ends.
Ecodata Watch:
- We get the PCE price index at 8:30 am EST (headline no forecast, last read was -0.1%; Core forecast = 0.5%, last read was 0.1%),
- We get YOY PCE at 8:30 am EST (no headline forecast, last read was 6.3%; Core forecast = 4.7%, vs prior read of 4.6%),
- We get Chicago PMI at 9:45 am EST (F = 51.8, last read was 52.2),
- We get consumer sentiment at 10 am EST (F = 59.5, last read was 59.5),
- We get UMich 5 year inflation (no forecast, last read was 2.8%).
In Today’s Post:
- Holdings Watch
- Commodity Watch - ST natural gas supply demand balance sheet, NGL prices, Price Cap Watch, OPEC+ Watch, Nordstream Watch
- Natural Gas Inventory Review
- Stuff We Care About Today - GNRC
- Odds & Ends
Holdings Watch:
ZLT
- Yesterday's Trades: None.
- The Blotter is updated.
Commodity Watch:
Crude oil closed off $0.92 yesterday at $81.23, moving lower with the general market sell off.
- OPEC+ Watch: We anticipate a 1+ MM bopd quota cut on October 5th.
- Price Cap Watch: G7 proposing to cap Russian prices. Thoughts:
- Mechanism - G7 and EU countries seeking to import volumes would need to adhere price cap to access shipping and insurance.
- Issues:
- EU / West trying to stave off price increases when EU full embargo goes into affect on December 5th.
- Top 3 Russian oil importers (China, India, Turkey) have increased flows, taking steep discounts that would still be presumably above price caps.
- Russia is thought to be pushing at least a 1 mm bopd production curb next week.
- Russia has seen the benefits of group discipline over the last couple of years, making more by selling less.
- OPEC+ wants higher prices.
- In the past Saudi has shouldered a "voluntary share" of addition curbs.
- Russia could do this too as they retaliate for the "cap".
- This could and we think would in effect circumvent a price cap by raising average global prices meaning the discount China, India and others are paying for Russian oil is still above current realized price levels (wins for Russia on price but also for China and India as they continue to get sub market prices).
- This morning crude is trading up slightly.
Natural gas closed off $0.081 at $6.874 as:
- The storage build was well above expectations for a second week,
- Next week look for a build of +100 to +110 Bcf.
- We see no reason to change our EOS range of 3.2 to 3.65 Bcf at this time. Given storage is at 2,977 Bcf with 5 to 6 weeks likely until peak we will need to see R&C demand rise a littele more quickly as Generation declines with cooling degree day readings to make our mid point of 3.425.
- Production yesterday was reported as edging up to a new record of 101.4 Bcfgpd (note in the table below that last week, which also saw a spike over 101 still managed a somewhat lower weekly average of 99.2 Bcfgpd.
- LNG continued to run above recent month's levels at just over 12 Bcfgpd this week (12.2) yesterday.
- Nordstream Watch: Interesting comments on the NS pipeline.
- Reports of a 4th explosion.
- Repair to take a very long time:
- Exterior is triple coated to prevent corrosion overtopped with concrete.
- Interior is single coated for friction reduction.
- Kilometers of pipe flooded with seawater with some estimating pitting within weeks required replacement. Limited options for steel for this pipe and Russia would be in charge of repairs and potentially limited by current sanctions from obtaining replacement pipe (likely they get a pass on that) but again, Russia would do repairs.
- Not a short or apparently medium term fix.
- This morning gas is trading up slightly.
NGL Price Watch:
Short Term Supply / Demand Balance Sheet:
Natural Gas Storage Review
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Stuff We Care About Today
GNRC (Unowned) - 2nd update
Our last review of GNRC was done in mid 2020 here, at $112. We liked the name at the time, but failed to take a position and it promptly turned into a 5 bagger we didn't buy. Since the time of that initial piece, quarterly revenue and EBITDA have grown substantially and were at record levels in 2Q22 ... but margins dipped in part due to supply chain issues.
While the name peaked at a whopping $524 in November 2021 (coinciding with the timing of the 3Q21 call which saw much weaker free cash flow), their shares have been retreating pretty much without break since then to arrive at the current $174 level and we thought this would make a good time for updated thoughts. Note also they held an investor day in August which also failed to buoy the shares.
The Basic Story: Generac is still a midcap Residential and Commercial/Industrial back up and portable generator name with a storage segment and growing smart control presence.
- Revenues have really taken off on the Residential side (248% revenue growth since our mid 2020 update) while C/I applications have grown more slowly (up 80%). As such, while they were roughly evenly split at the time of our initial look, the sales mix is now skewed nearly 70% to the Residential side with the company marketing and distributing via a broad variety of channels and 85% of sales are domestic.
- Margins peaked a couple of quarters after our review
- and once high flying free cash flow contracted as they were forced to invest heavily in working capital.
- Their focus remains on clean on-demand power using natural gas sometimes coupled with battery backup but have moved into the solar space (invertors) with battery backup.
- Sales benefit from:
- the fear of power outage events (wildfires, hurricanes, grid overload).
- rising power costs,
- the "electrification of everything" - greater personal control trends.
- The balance sheet is in good shape and they're using cash on the balance sheet and now recovering free cash flow to buy back shares.
Product Offering:
- Home standby (HSB) generators. While they don't break out revenues by product this is the big one.
- They see the market as only 5.5% penetrated (compared to 17.5% of homes with portable generators 27% with burglar alarms and 87% with AC) and each 1% add being equal to $3 B of market opportunity.
- HSB is driving overall company results.
- Demand is exceptional and they have and will continue to have a backlog which is not really normal for them. As lead times fall from high levels early this year this will come down but it gives them better than normal visibility on medium term revenues.
- Home consultations for HSB is up 4x over what it was in 2019 pre Covid.
- Labor constraints have been an issue for installs and order times to install are longer than they want due to this, utility delays, and some parts availability issues. They see labor easing now as new home construction softens and some labor is redirected.
- Other Stuff:
- Battery backup storage
- Micro Inverters,
- Micro grid and grid services,
- EV charging,
- Smart thermostats (they own Ecobee) and share home monitoring devices.
- Commercial/Industrial products include generators, critical telecom network power.
- Company believes their SAM (served addressable market) will be up 5x from 2018 by 2025 to $72 B.
A few comments and then some graphs:
- Revenue and EBITDA just set quarterly records.
- Margins in 2Q22 were above company expectations and they believe margins bottomed in 1Q22.
- They have instituted price increases and a cost cutting program and expect improving second half 2022 results.
- Upside for this year is constrained by capacity to install but they're working on this in terms of install time reduction and wider sourcing of partners.
Historic Revenue Growth:
Revenue Forecast Growth: Street in line on 2022 with company guidance.
Margins - comments ----
Margins and end of quarter Share Price: In the renewable space we've noted margin directionality has often been well correlated with share prices. They don't guide for gross margins in prints but they see gross margins returning to 1Q21 levels by 4Q22 (in 40% territory). For EBITDA margin guidance they recently reiterated 22% for 2022 which implies further recovery in 3Q and 4Q22.
Balance Sheet:
- In good shape < 1x leverage,
- Liquidity is more than adequate.
Return of capital
- The company normally kicks off significant FCF but this was impacted in recent quarters by higher than normal working capital investment.
- They do not pay a dividend at this time.
- They bought back shares as recently as this quarter ($124 mm or about 0.5 mm shares wrapping up the last authorization and management then authorized an additional $0.5 B repurchase program.
Nutshell:
- This is another common sense story within the renewable space with a well established business/brand and an expanding product line.
- Margins are solid vs many renewable hardware names strong and set to recover to target levels.
- Balance sheet is strong.
- Valuation is not expensive for a name in the space.
- They appear to be attempting to follow in ENPH's footsteps with their Concerto software platform (control everything from one point).
- We plan to open a position relatively near term, small to start as always (this one is as volatile as ENPH so we will bite in small increments). We note that the chart has a gap to fill from 7/2022 back down to $141 which would be a nice level from which we could start to build. We may in the interim trade the name around earnings calls as we did for a period with ENPH (now a core position).
Odds & Ends
Analyst Watch:
- TBA in comments
Fed for November.
43.5% 50 bps (was 42% 2 days ago)
56.5% 75 bps
https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html
September 30th, 2022 at 6:26 amLook for sand and frac name updates next week. Call in with one frac name for today.
September 30th, 2022 at 6:29 amunder issues segment of price cap comments today add, EU not united (I know it’s natural gas but still).
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/austria-says-it-cannot-back-any-current-eu-gas-price-cap-plan-2022-09-30/
September 30th, 2022 at 6:31 amHappy Friday everyone! I got my first CIVI dividend yesterday, feels great
September 30th, 2022 at 6:49 amre 4 – lot of yield on the way there. No debt. Not much growth in volumes near term. Private target rich environment though so accretive to yield M&A likely in 2023.
September 30th, 2022 at 7:16 amVWDRY on the tape
846 MW deal penned in Brazil, largest wind project in Latin America.
120 of their 4.5 Mw turbines for phase 1 (540 MW),
with an option for another 68 turbines for phase 2 (option through the end of this year)
25 year service contract.
2H24 install timeframe.
That’s a lot of big deals (potential) for the 2024/2025 time frame announced this week including the 1.1 and 1.2 GW offshore orders for the big 15 MW variants.
Stock could care less but this too shall pass.
September 30th, 2022 at 7:20 amCore PCE at 0.6% vs 0.5% exp.
September 30th, 2022 at 7:34 amCore PCE YoY at 4.9% vs 4.7%.
September 30th, 2022 at 7:35 amOPERATOR OF NORD STREAM SUGGESTS GAS LEAKS IN BALTIC SEA WILL CONTINUE UNTIL 2 OCTOBER – RIA
September 30th, 2022 at 7:36 amVWDRY – more end of quarter orders
50 MW Japan, 20 year contract 2024/25 time frame.
September 30th, 2022 at 7:52 amre 7/8 –
U.S. SHORT-TERM INTEREST RATE FUTURES ADD TO LOSSES AFTER INFLATION REPORT AS TRADERS BOOST BETS ON FURTHER FED RATE HIKES
September 30th, 2022 at 7:53 amRe-Nord Stream Pipelines-Well worth reading –
https://doomberg.substack.com/p/decades-in-minutes
September 30th, 2022 at 8:19 amI didn’t realize that VWDRY price had fallen so much. Is wind no longer popular?
September 30th, 2022 at 8:21 amre 12 – thanks
September 30th, 2022 at 8:21 amre 13 – renewables have been falling since the inauguration in 2021. Solar caught a break with the IRA bill.
Contributing factors.
Supply chain and logistics costs work against big items in wind (towers, blades) more than they do in solar.
Raw materials costs came up (as did ASP’s for things like blades) which while offset in many cases were not in all leading to a dip in gross margins. Tighter labor hit operating margins including in the higher margin Service segment (less material given it’s size relative to the mainline business at Vestas).
Uncertainty over PTC extensions in wind delayed some projects.
There was always going to be lull as US onshore wind growth slowed until US offshore growth (and other offshore growth) picked up. This has lead to slowing of backlog growth.
Management has been buying shares just above current levels. Corner starting to turn.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:28 amJust before equity open
WTI down $1+
September 30th, 2022 at 8:28 amNG down almost a dime.
Equity futures ebbing negative on the PCE inflation print.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:29 amVWDRY – 74 MW Finland
30 year contract
September 30th, 2022 at 8:32 am2024 install/commission
re 18 – these should just pop out all day in typical end of quarter flurry.
The Finland one takes them to just under 1.2 GW on the quarter which excludes the offshore as those are preferred provider announcements.
Compares to 1.78 GW (announced) orders in 2Q22 and 3.167 GW in 3Q22.
Sentiment on stock should improve with the offshore orders AND when announced orders bottom on a quarterly basis.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:36 amAnalyst Watch
GNRC (unowned) – Cowen tailgating our post today, initiates at Outperform with $229 target.
We are not long. See nutshell, want a lower entry as I’m greedy.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:38 amthank you
September 30th, 2022 at 8:40 amWe may send in a piece to SA today on CIVI. It’s been in the hopper for a few weeks now, watching things. Just fyi.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:42 amre 21 – you bet, thank you.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:43 amRam – how’s the FL situation?
September 30th, 2022 at 8:44 amChicago PMI with a shocking drop to 45.7 lowest since June of 2020. Expected was 51.8.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:47 amTake the poll
https://twitter.com/ZmansEnrgyBrain/status/1575845002319523840
September 30th, 2022 at 8:48 amre 25 – yeah, like a scene from the classic movie Better of Fed.
September 30th, 2022 at 8:49 amFed funds probability now 58.5% to 75 bips
https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html
September 30th, 2022 at 8:56 amPotential trades list (next week’s business):
PR (unowned) – $1 below our review from 9/8 here:
https://zmansenergybrain.com/2022/09/09/t-g-i-f-265/
This puts it at 2.6x our 2023 Base EBITDA and 2.0x on our Stretch math.
by end of this quarter they should be at leverage of 0.9x TTM EBITDA.
on our 2023 Base Case ($80 oil, $5 NG), that puts them at a combined dividend yield of 9.7%.
Pretty solid for the low multiple and lowish debt and lowish hedge in 2023 (25% oil, largely with swaps at a now really nice looking $87.24).
Non debt adjusted FCF yield of 32% is pretty nice as well.
Anyway, food for thought.
September 30th, 2022 at 9:04 amre 12 – Denise – thanks – that cuts off at “let’s dig in” – not asking for beyond paywall stuff but anything of note that’s not public?
September 30th, 2022 at 9:08 amre 29 – so tempted …
September 30th, 2022 at 9:09 amRe 30- hmmmm Thought it was a free one-(I subscribe) Here is a podcast they did before it was confirmed sabotage – basically same as his sub stack- This was done on 9/28
https://doomberg.substack.com/p/decades-in-minutes
Worth 45 minutes of everyone’s time (in my opinion)
September 30th, 2022 at 9:17 amCorrection here is podcast link
September 30th, 2022 at 9:28 amhttps://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-rem5h-15441a63?utm_campaign=i_share_ep&utm_medium=dlink&utm_source=i_share
https://www.reuters.com/article/oil-opec/opec-oil-output-cut-talks-narrow-to-0-5-1-0-mln-bpd-sources-say-idUSL9N2U802E
September 30th, 2022 at 9:37 amUkraine to apply for NATO membership.
September 30th, 2022 at 9:38 amre 32/33 – thanks Denise, I’ve got some volunteer work this weekend I can use to tune in.
September 30th, 2022 at 9:38 amEIA Monthly reported to be out but website not showing Sep 30 release yet.
Good source says July at 11.8 mm bopd, essentially flat with June.
STEO had July at ~ 11.713 mm bopd
STEO has August at 11.86 mm bopd
September 30th, 2022 at 9:48 amEnCap Is Said to Consider Asset Sales Worth Combined $6 billion
September 30th, 2022 at 9:51 amPrivate equity firm working with advisers for Permian sales
Assets expected to interest strategics already in basinsBy Kiel Porter and Rachel Butt
(Bloomberg) — Private equity firm EnCap Investments is planning a sale of two bundles of oil and gas assets in Texas that could fetch more than $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company is looking to sell positions in the Delaware Basin, which are made of up of Advance Energy Partners and Ameredev II, and the Midland Basin, which includes assets from Black Swan Oil & Gas, Piedra Resources and Petrolegacy Energy, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
The assets, which are being sold by different advisers, are expected to attract large corporate buyers, the people said. They are expected to be sold next year, they said.
EnCap hasn’t made a final decision on its sale plans, which could still change, they added.
Without confirming specifics of any potential future sales, EnCap Managing Director Jason DeLorenzo said “EnCap has no plans to combine or sell any of its portfolio companies at this time. Depending on the strength of the market, EnCap may be in a position to sell select portfolio companies in 2023.”
A sale would add to the wave of closely held assets brought to market in the past year as owners look to take advantage of rising oil prices and corporate acquirers’ stronger balance sheets. This month, EQT Corp. reached a deal to buy THQ Appalachia for about $5 billion, while Earthstone Energy Inc. agreed to buy Bighorn Permian Resources in January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
EnCap, which was founded by David Miller, Gary Peterson, Martin Philips and Robert Zorich, invests in oil and gas, pipelines and energy transition projects, including wind and solar. The firm closed its first energy transition fund in May 2021 with $1.2 billion, according to the company’s website.
re 38 TY
September 30th, 2022 at 9:53 amGetting on a call, back in a bit.
September 30th, 2022 at 10:11 amVWDRY – 74 MW Lithuania
35 year maintenance contract
2023 install and commission.
Expect more today.
September 30th, 2022 at 10:53 amRig Count Watch
Oil up 2 to 604 vs 428 year ago
NG down 1 to 159 vs 99
Notably Marcellus up 3 to 39 vs 26 year ago
September 30th, 2022 at 12:11 pmQuiet day in the space but green.
Broad market can’t get out of its own way.
OT – grabbing lunch, back in an hour.
September 30th, 2022 at 12:37 pmHere, reading, shout if you need something.
September 30th, 2022 at 1:32 pmHave a happy, safe, restful weekend.
Newsflow will start to pick up next week.
3Q22 reporting season begins in 3 weeks.
We’re closing out the week up about 2%.
I’ll be out of pocket all day Saturday.
The Wrap will be out Sunday early.
Beerthirty
September 30th, 2022 at 2:54 pm