< The 2015 All-America Research Team
Daniel Ford
Barclays
First-place appearances: 6
Total appearances: 16
Analyst debut: 2000
For a second consecutive year, Barclays researcher Daniel Ford captures third place. “He’s the best big-picture guy in utilities,” one fund manager proclaims. “He understands the fundamentals and drivers for stock moves better than anyone and has a much-needed patient view, in a volatile market, about what should be working over time and why.” The analyst, who works out of Wells, Maine, advises that environmental policy is one of the biggest issues facing all utilities and power companies, since it “affects regulated utilities’ level and visibility of [capital expenditures].” In August the Environmental Protection Agency released its Clean Power Plan for controlling carbon dioxide emissions at a national level, and he foresees “a substantial step-down in coal generation for electricity between now and 2030 and a material increase in the amount of renewables on the grid, as well as natural gas.” Putting the program into place will also require “a significant investment in the transmission system in order to hook up new plants, which will be in different locations, as well as a significant investment in gas pipelines to get the gas to some of those plants,” adds Ford, 48. One company that “seems to really line up well with the trends that are coming,” he says, is NextEra Energy. He has a $118 per share price target on the Juno Beach, Florida–based company, a leading generator of renewable energy and owner of meaningful franchises in transmission and gas pipeline logistics. In mid-September the stock closed at $97.29.
