Topic: How To Invest

Pat: Do you see Just Energy Group as a reasonably safe investment?

Article Excerpt

Just Energy Group, $15.54, symbol JE on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 137.0 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion, www.justenergy.com), sells natural gas and electricity to homeowners, small to mid-sized businesses, and small industrial customers. The company sells gas in Ontario, Quebec, B.C., Alberta and Manitoba, as well as New York, Michigan, Ohio, California, Illinois and Indiana. Just Energy also markets electricity in Ontario, Alberta, New York, Massachusetts and Texas. The company’s clients buy its gas and electricity under five-year, fixed-price contracts. That way, customers eliminate their exposure to changes in natural-gas and electricity prices. Just Energy profits from the difference between the fixed price at which it sells natural gas and electricity and the fixed price at which it buys them on the futures market. In addition to natural gas and electricity, Just Energy sells and installs increasingly popular tankless and high-efficiency water heaters. Tankless water heaters provide an instant, endless supply of hot water by heating the water as it passes over an…