One of the most lucrative opportunities within the market at the moment comes in the form of infrastructure. There’s no denying the fact that there is a near unlimited number of projects across all segments of the economy that need to be completed, and equally agreeable, yet less visible opportunity exists for the company’s that manage the bevy infrastructure projects.
For investors, the idea that you can invest in an array of income-producing investments scattered around the globe that are both profitable and necessary is intriguing, and that’s exactly what investors can expect from investing in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (TSX: BIP.UN)(NYSE: BIP).
Meet Brookfield Infrastructure Partners
Brookfield Infrastructure has a massive portfolio of assets that span across several segments such as utilities, transportation, energy, communications and, interestingly enough, data.
While data may not sound like the typical infrastructure investment, it makes perfect sense when you factor in our rapidly evolving and increasingly technology-focused world. In short, we are consuming and creating more data than ever before, and the sheer number of services and devices we use is only going to increase, making large data centres a very profitable and necessary staple of our modern society.
Brookfield has invested heavily into its data business, and example, earlier this year, Brookfield paid US$1.1 billion in a massive 31 data centre acquisition. Brookfield sees that data infrastructure segment realizing double-digit growth over the next few years, and in the most recent quarter, the segment saw a 5% bump year-over-year in FFO to $20 million.
In addition to the acquisitions in the data segment, Brookfield has a number of other acquisitions across its other segments, several of which were recently completed or in progress, which should provide a healthy boost to the stock in 2019. The acquisition of a natural gas pipeline in Brazil last year is a prime example of this, which was instrumental in the utility segment realizing a whopping 77.3% boost to FFO in the most recent quarter and likely to continue providing handsome returns.
Beyond that ever-growing portfolio of assets, the other key takeaway that investors should keep in mind when considering Brookfield is the company’s dividend. The company currently offers an attractive quarterly dividend that has a yield of 4.91%, which has seen annual or better hikes stemming back several years, the most recent of which hit this month.
Final thoughts
Brookfield remains one of the few investments on the market currently that continues to seek out new opportunities that fuel incredible growth, provide investors with a solid and growing dividend, and at the same time continue to build out a very diversified and lucrative portfolio.
In my opinion, Brookfield Infrastructure belongs should be a core holding in nearly every portfolio.
