Pembina Pipeline CorpPPL.TOBUY ON WEAKNESSAug 18, 2020Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Aug 12, 2026. Market Open.
A name for a good dividend and safety. Pipelines are not quite as good as utilities, because they're perceived as being commodity-sensitive (even though they're really not).
You'll get your dividend, and the safety means you can sleep at night (and that's worth something). You can get diversification via funds and ETFs.
Both benefit from AI centre demand. Pembina is building a 1.8 gigawatt natural gas plant in Alberta. Half of ALA's business is in the US, regulated utilities, in Virginia--the world capital of data centre traffic. ALA also has activity in Western Canada. ALA's growth rate is higher than Pembina. ALA gets the slight edge.
It had a lot of growth ahead, then the pandemic threw that into question. It's waiting on the future demand for energy and pipelines. The monthly dividend is safe as long as contracted players continue to pay, but the risk is in those contracts voiding and defaulting. This applies to peers like Keyera. PPL is more diversified and bigger vs. its peers. He's picking away at it, but this is a volatile space. Oil stocks are grinding higher, though, as the WTI price keeps rising and shale oil is not coming back and Canadian production is flatlining. Buy at low-$30/high-$20s. Hold at mid-$30s and hope things will normalize.