Give the Global X YieldCo Index ETF (NasdaqGM: YLCO) some credit. The first exchange traded fund devoted to Yieldcos gained a third of a percent Monday, a day after the New York Times ran a story questioning yieldco financing while noting some investors are growing impatient with the asset class.
“YieldCos are formed when energy companies spin off fully developed assets, such as wind and solar farms, with long term contracts and an objective of returning cash flows to shareholders. Market capitalization for the YieldCo industry currently stands at $39 billion. With 11 announced IPOs in the pipeline, it has become an increasingly popular vehicle for energy firms,” according to a statement issued by Global X.
YLCO, which tracks the Indxx Global YieldCo Index, is home to 20 stocks with the ETF’s top 10 holdings commanding nearly two-thirds of the fund’s weight.
“Investors began to lose confidence that there would be enough projects to go around. In addition, the threat of rising interest rates made the yieldcos less attractive than more conventional financing. And depressed prices for oil and gas brought down energy values over all,” reports Diane Caldwell for the New York Times.
Recently, some analysts have questioned the ability of yieldcos to grow dividends at a steady clip, perhaps jeopardizing one of the biggest catalysts drawing investors to the asset class.
“By design, YieldCos have significantly lower risk profiles than their parent companies, as they typically contain only stable energy producing assets with predictable cash flows, and are not involved in the riskier business of bringing new projects online. Additionally, their primary focus is on distributing available cash flows to shareholders, rather than reinvesting in new technologies or building new projects,” according to Global X.
Yieldcos are comparable to master limited partnerships (MLPs), an asset class that has been widely embraced by income investors in recent years. YieldCos are typically lowly correlated to traditional equities and do not generate the pesky K-1 tax forms investors in individual MLPs have to deal with every tax season. [Solar ETF Lessons]
The New York Times notes slumping shares prices for yieldcos have forced dividend yields up to the point that borrowing money or issuing equity has become cost-prohibitive. Even with the headwinds, YLCO is up nearly 13% over the past week.
Global X YieldCo Index ETF
