Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What do you think of water stock Cadiz Inc.?

Article Excerpt

A: Cadiz Inc., $8.02, symbol CDZI on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 16.2 million; Market cap: $130.7 million; www.cadizinc.com), aims to tap an aquifer located beneath 34,000 acres of the eastern Mojave Desert in California. It will then sell the water to the drought-stricken suburbs and subdivisions in the Los Angeles Basin. The proposal involves pumping 16.3 billion gallons a year up to 200 miles from the aquifer toward the coast. The water will travel through a 43-mile pipeline that Cadiz wants to build along a railroad line and then merge into the Colorado River Aqueduct, which flows into Los Angeles. Cadiz appears to have the necessary permits to pump from the aquifer. It also has six utilities in the Los Angeles area that are ready to buy the water. The shares jumped at the start of May 2014, after the Orange County Superior Court upheld the Santa Margarita Water District and the County of San Bernardino’s decision to approve Cadiz’s project. The company’s project…