Roger S. Conrad

This morning, America’s leading wind and solar power producer NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) announced outstanding Q3 results. This first major renewable energy producer to report gives solid confirmation that the global energy transition is alive and well, no matter what happens at the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference.

October is the month with the reputation for hosting epic market crashes. But September has historically been the worst for stock returns. And this year’s results matched the trend, as the S&P shed close to 5 percent and the Dow Jones Utility Average more than 6 percent of its value. The silver lining is the vast majority of our Portfolio stocks are once again trading at reasonable entry points for fresh money. And ironically, specific company developments last month were strongly positive. Front and center is Illinois’ new energy law and its potential to accelerate growth for Conservative Focus stock Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) and deep value Vistra Energy (NYSE: VST).

Few places have seen more turbulence than Hong Kong the past few years. But equally, few utilities boast anything close to the continuing reliable and robust growth of CLP Holdings (HK: 2, OTC: CLPHY).

It took an 11th hour legislative showdown and threats by the company to shut a pair of nuclear plants. But Illinois has now passed the omnibus energy legislation Exelon Corp (NYSE: EXC) sought for years. And the company has never been better positioned to take advantage.

Worries about rising interest rates and inflation pressures have emerged as material headwinds for dividend paying stocks. As a result, the Dow Jones Utility Average has once again failed to break above long-standing upside resistance at its February 2020 all-time high. That makes it 19 months and counting since the DJUA has reached a new peak. And it’s a stark contrast to the S&P 500, which hit one just last month.

AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) still sells for less than 8.7 times expected 2021 earnings. And PPL Corp (NYSE: PPL) yields 2.5 percentage points more than the Dow Jones Utility Average. Why the deep discounts? Because neither company’s management has come clean on how much they intend to cut dividends after completing major transactions early next year, other than to say they intend to “right size.”

According to the US Energy Information Administration’s baseline forecast, Americans will use 40 percent more electricity by 2050 than in 2010. And more than half of that will come from new wind and solar, driven by the combination of favorable government policies, continued declines in the cost curve and development of energy storage.

This summer, the Biden Administration upped the ante even more with a proposal to build 1,000 gigawatts of solar generating capacity in the US by 2035 at a projected cost of roughly $1 trillion. That follows its acceleration of permitting for US offshore wind projects as well, which the government hopes will result in 26 GW of capacity entering service by 2030.

From Winter Storm Uri to Hurricane Ida, extreme weather is the emerging big story for utilities in 2021, just as the pandemic was last year. And now as then, well-executed responses are absolutely essential.

New Orleans-based Entergy Corp (NYSE: ETR) arguably has the most on the line at this time. The Portfolio section discusses its prospects, as well as those of other storm-hit utilities.

My other big theme this month is income. Borrowing rates for Utility Report Card companies are still near multi-generation lows, which means slim pickings for fixed income. But the Feature article shows there are still big, safe yields in less obvious places.

Last week, Centerpoint Energy’s (NYSE: CNP) 7 percent preferred stock converted into 1.8349 of the company’s common shares. That was the maximum possible exchange and the best outcome for the preferred, which also paid a final dividend of 87.5 cents.