Roger S. Conrad

Rising interest rates don't necessarily sound the death knell for dividend-paying stocks.

The resulting 99.1 percent boost in fourth quarter revenue wasn’t enough to answer several nagging questions about SolarCity’s long-run sustainability as an enterprise.

Janet Yellen acknowledged that the Fed might start to raise interest rates six months after phasing out its bond-buying program toward the end of 2014. Take advantage of the selloff in dividend-paying stocks to add high-quality names.

NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) has roughly matched the 13 percent average return of my Aggressive Holdings since July 31, 2013—when the Portfolio was formed. Three developments over the past week, however, promise to propel the stock much higher, earning it a higher buy up to target of 32.

Thanks again to everyone who tuned in to my second on-line chat for Conrad’s Utility Investor subscribers last week. The full transcript of the 4-hour question and answer session is now available on the CUI website by clicking on the “Events” tab from the home page.

Mention master limited partnerships and sooner or later someone will bring up taxes. The big worry: A US version of Canada’s infamous Halloween Massacre of 2006, which shaved $24 billion off the value of income trusts in two weeks.

Winter 2013-14 was one of the coldest on record in North America. Americans used massive amounts of natural gas, drawing down an historic glut in storage. And supplies are still shrinking with US consumption running 19 percent ahead of last year.

Conrad's Utility Investor has three actively managed portfolios--Aggressive Income, Conservative Income and Top 10 Drips--each of which is tailored to a specific investment style and risk tolerance. We review each model portfolio's objective, book a 60 percent gain on one of our winners and shift one of our Conservative Income Portfolio holdings to the Aggressive Income Portfolio.

The newest member of the Conservative Income Portfolio operates regulated and unregulated utility businesses and is poised for impressive distribution growth.

This Aggressive Portfolio holding remains one of our favorite turnaround stories.