Roger S. Conrad

There’s no faster way to grow a business than by making acquisitions. The trick few master is finding deals with upside from simply following core competencies, and made at the right price. But neither has been a problem for Conservative Holding Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners (TSX: BEP-U, NYSE: BEP).

When it comes to MLP distribution cuts, lightening often has struck several times in the same place. So it’s no wonder investors have been skeptical about Suburban Propane Partners’ (NYSE SPH) 10 percent plus distribution, since management took the hard step of a -32.4 percent reduction in late 2017.

It’s been decades since utility stocks started a year this fast. But while the Dow Jones Utility Average’s 10 percent plus first quarter return is certainly preferable to what we saw last year, we suspect that staying cool after 2019’s hot start will prove critical as the rest of the year unfolds.

Three companies exit the Endangered Dividends List this month: propane distributor Amerigas Partners (NYSE: APU), telecom equipment REIT Uniti Group (NSDQ: UNIT) and closed-end fund Kayne Anderson MLP/Midstream (NYSE: KYN).

At the end of the day, dividend stocks behave like other stocks - returns track prospects for companies’ health and growth, whether the Fed is raising rates or cutting them. That’s what to focus on, now more than ever.

Get big or go home: That’s the communications sector’s reality.

There are only a few weeks left in first quarter 2019. And still a handful of Utility Report Card coverage universe companies haven’t reported calendar fourth quarter numbers and guidance.

Unfortunately, tardy filings are par for the course this time of year, when most companies make full-on annual reports rather than quarterly updates. But there’s already been plenty revealed that has critical implications for investors during the rest of 2019.

This month’s Report Card has the particulars for almost all of the companies that didn’t report in time for the February issue. Putting together everything we’ve learned so far, the most important takeaway is, to a company, our Portfolio recommendations didn’t disappoint.

In fact, Aggressive Holding Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE: HASI) justified our faith holding onto it over the past year by returning to dividend growth. That news pushed its shares to a new all-time high this month. And as the “Portfolio Holdings Trading Above Target” table in the Portfolio Article shows, it’s hardly alone in making a run.