Roger S. Conrad

The pullback in utility stocks gives investors another chance to buy high-quality names.

Lower energy prices keep several dividend cutters in danger of further reductions to their payouts.

The market’s attention has turned to the Federal Reserve once again. But savvy investors will focus on industry- and company-specific drivers to identify outperformers. We explore several key trends for essential-services investors.

The newest addition to our Aggressive Income Portfolio represents a recently announced deal involving this longtime underperformer will create long-term value for shareholders.

Fears of rising interest rates have given traders an excuse to take profits on utility stocks after last fall’s big run-up. Investors with a longer time horizon have ample opportunity buy the high-quality names in our 10 Percent Club, a distinguished group of essential-services stocks that offer a compelling combination of current yield and potential dividend growth.

Roger Conrad will host an exclusive Live Chat for Conrad's Utility Investor subscribers on March 10, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. ET.

First Solar and SunPower Corp announced a yieldco earlier this week. Should you believe the hype?

Utility stocks have pulled back from their all-time high reached in January, but our Portfolio holdings continue to deliver solid fourth-quarter results.

Oil and gas producers worldwide have felt the sting from lower energy prices. Although much of the media attention has focused on the US companies spearheading the shale revolution, their counterparts north of the border arguably have taken a harder hit.

Momentum-seeking money, which last year helped the utility sector to outperform, has shifted to dividend-paying energy stocks and telecoms since Jan. 28, 2015, when the popular Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLU) hit its all-time high. In subsequent weeks, the exchange-traded fund has given up more than 7 percent of its value; on the opposite end of the teeter-totter, the S&P 500 Telecommunication Services Index has rallied by roughly the same amount and the Alerian MLP Index has climbed 4.6 percent. These moves represent a reversal of the trend that held sway from the end of September to the end of January, when the S&P 500’s telecom stocks gave up 7 percent of their value and the Alerian MLP Index dropped by more than 17 percent. Over the same period, Utilities Select SPDR generated a total return of almost 20 percent. Don’t panic over this latest shift in momentum. This pullback gives savvy investors an opportunity to buy some our favorite utility stocks at more reasonable prices, though a good chunk still trade above our buy targets.