Withdrawing Engie From Best Ideas List After 39% Outperformance Since August 2021; Adding Veolia
We are withdrawing no-moat Engie from our Best Ideas list after a 64% total return since we added the stock to the list in August 2021, compared with the S&P 500's total return of 25%. This strong outperformance was fueled by: (1) record results in 2022 and 2023 since Engie was one of the main winners of the energy crisis among European utilities because of its high exposure to power prices and clean spark spreads; (2) the derisking of the equity story after an agreement with the Belgian government for the transfer of Engie's nuclear liabilities to it.