The CBS News headline shouts out the good news:
Wind and solar producer tops Exxon as most valuable U.S. energy company
The Sandwich Climate Action Coalition continues to watch a trend away from fossil fuels to renewables; so this is really big news because the smart money is starting to go to major corporations with renewable foci.
Here is more from the CBS News story:
It’s a milestone for renewable energy in the U.S.: A solar and wind power provider on Friday briefly topped ExxonMobil as America’s most valuable energy company.
NextEra Energy, based in Juno Beach, Florida, temporarily eclipsed Exxon when its value hit $138.3 billion, edging out the fossil-fuel giant. Although the two have since swapped places, with Exxon worth about $2 billion more as of the close of trading on Monday, NextEra’s enormous growth underlines the shift toward clean energy amid growing planetary destruction as a result of climate change. The two companies closed neck-and-neck yesterday, both at $142.7 billion. NextEra remains more valuable than Chevron, America’s No. 2 oil and gas producer.
Robert Rapier at Forbes writes:
If you had invested in Florida-based utility NextEra Energy NEE +0.9% a decade ago, your total return through this week, including dividends, would have been 600%. That is a phenomenal return for an energy company.
In contrast, if you had invested in ExxonMobil XOM +1.1% a decade ago, you have seen the share value decline by half. Add in the dividends, and the total 10-year return of ExxonMobil is -25%.