Roger S. Conrad

The result of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Virginia this week puts two proposed long haul natural gas transportation projects in peril.

Despite a not-quite-ready-for-prime-time roll-out, the so-called "Green New Deal"' key goal of de-carbonization is gaining ground on both sides of the aisle in Congress, and more importantly with industry.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) has struggled in building America’s first new nuclear power plant since the 1980s. But CEO Tom Fanning is more confident than ever.

Unless it can successfully appeal the decision, a Manhattan federal court ruling will likely shove the wireline phone company over the edge.

For the 20^th time since 1984, the Dow Jones Utility Average has posted positive January returns. Only in 1987 and 2015 did utilities fail to follow such a performance with an up year. Two good reasons best in class companies should succeed in 2019: More modest valuations than a year ago and strong earnings. Utility Report Card has highlights and analysis for the roughly one-third of coverage universe companies that have reported calendar fourth quarter results. So far, most have come in at or ahead of where management was guiding. There’s still a lot more news and numbers to come, including potentially make or break reports from several Conrad’s Utility Investor Portfolio recommendations. What we see will be even more critical for several Endangered Dividends List companies, which now sit on a knife’s edge between maintaining and cutting dividends. This month, I’ve again focused the Feature article on the most promising highest yielders. Returns from the last time I tried this back in August were solid on balance but a mixed bag.

When the Japanese government called for a big cut in wireless rates last year, NTT DoCoMo (Tokyo: 9437, OTC: DCMYY) was first to respond. Investors immediately assumed the worst, selling off its shares as well as those of its parent and 56.52 percent owner Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (Tokyo: 9432, OTC: NTTYY).

Last week, Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) sold $1 billion in 10-year green bonds at a cost that was 14 percent lower than expected. That’s just the latest demonstration of this company’s superior access to capital, even as it generates $18 billion in free cash flow this year, or twice its total dividends.