Topic: How To Invest

Q: Dear Patrick: I would be grateful for your opinion on Chicago Bridge & Iron. The company’s stock is way down but I have been told that it has a new and inexpensive revolutionary (and clean) method of producing energy from natural gas and is in the process of building power stations to use it. Many thanks for your advice, as usual. Joining the Successful Investor was the smartest move in the whole of my investing career.

Article Excerpt

A: Chicago Bridge & Iron N.V., $14.68, symbol CBI on New York (Shares outstanding: 101.2 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion, www.cbi.com), is a U.S.-based engineering, procurement and construction company. It specializes in projects for oil and gas firms. The company recently plunged to an eight-year low after reporting poor results in the latest quarter and suspending its dividend. In the three months ended June 30, 2017, Chicago Bridge’s revenue fell 40.6%, to $1.28 billion from $2.16 billion a year earlier. The company lost $301.7 million, or $3.02 a share, compared to its profit of $123.9 million, or $1.10 a share. The engineering and construction business was particularly weak, with revenue falling 53.2%, to $702.2 million from $1.5 billion. The drop was primarily due to the wind-down of a large liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Asia-Pacific region as well as lower revenue from two U.S.-based LNG projects. The company has been unable to replace these contracts with new ones. The big loss…