US coal companies have been paying outsized returns to investors for the past two years, offering near-term compensation even as share values sank. That won’t last.
Peabody Energy and Warrior Met Coal are among the miners that have paid out more than $1.25-billion to shareholders in dividends and share buybacks through the first three quarters of this year. That’s down from more than $1.5-billion for the same period last year. And as cash flow dries up, 2020 may be worse.