Skip to main content
hello world

Paid Post: Content produced by Motley Fool. The Globe and Mail was not involved, and material was not reviewed prior to publication.

Why New Fortress Energy Rallied Today

Motley Fool - Tue Oct 1, 3:06PM CDT

Shares of liquefied natural gas (LNG) companyNew Fortress Energy(NASDAQ: NFE) surged 8.7% on Tuesday as of 3:41 p.m. ET.

On a down day for the markets, New Fortress delivered what was perceived as short-term good news. However, it wasn't great news, as the company was able to both push out some debt maturities and raise cash in the equity markets....but at a cost.

A deal with creditors and equity holders

Yesterday, New Fortress announced a deal with its creditors to exchange its 6.75% 2025 notes, 6.50% 2026 notes, and 8.75% 2029 notes for new notes bearing an interest rate of 12% due in 2029. The company also agreed to have these notes secured by a 49% stake in New Fortress' Brazil operations, giving creditors more collateral than they had prior.

Then today, the company priced a public offering of its shares, selling 46.3 million shares at $8.63, raising another $400 million. Of note, chairman and CEO Wesley R. Edens purchased 5.8 million shares of the offering, hoping to spur confidence in the company.

While these news items offer some relief for the company and shareholders, it's really not a great sign New Fortress had to take on a higher interest rate, pledge more collateral, and dilute existing shareholders with the stock near all-time lows.

New Fortress disappointed investors with its second-quarter earnings release back in August, missing guidance by a wide margin as its new floating LNG facility was delayed in being placed into service. While the company said the facility was placed into service July 19, apparently the delays led to some consternation about these looming debt maturities. Of note, New Fortress had over $7.6 billion in debt against just $133 million in cash at the end of last quarter. So, any hiccup in operations could put the company's solvency in danger.

New Fortress remains a risky bet

No doubt, the pushout of maturities and new equity raise gives the company breathing room. Still, management has only guided for $1.3 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for 2025. When compared with the company's $7 billion-plus in net debt, that's still a high leverage ratio. That means New Fortress remains a high-risk, leveraged bet on LNG prices going forward.

Should you invest $1,000 in New Fortress Energy right now?

Before you buy stock in New Fortress Energy, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and New Fortress Energy wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $744,197!*

Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. TheStock Advisorservice has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 30, 2024

Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.