• Twitter
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
  • Roger S. Conrad

Roger S. Conrad needs no introduction to individual and professional investors, many of whom have profited from his decades of experience uncovering the best dividend-paying stocks for accumulating sustainable wealth.

Roger built his reputation with Utility Forecaster, a publication he founded more than 20 years ago that The Hulbert Financial Digest routinely ranked as one of the best investment newsletters. He’s also a sought-after expert on master limited partnerships (MLP) and former Canadian royalty trusts.

In April 2013, Roger reunited with his long-time friend and colleague, Elliott Gue, becoming co-editor of Energy & Income Advisor, a semimonthly online newsletter that’s dedicated to uncovering the most profitable opportunities in the energy sector.

Although the masthead may have changed, readers can count on Roger to deliver the same high-quality analysis and rational assessment of the best dividend-paying utilities, MLPs and dividend-paying Canadian energy names.

Articles

Lower Prices for High Quality Stocks Mean Better Buys

By Roger S. Conrad on Jun. 10, 2024
All Utility Report Card companies have released calendar Q1 results and updated guidance, save a pair of floundering renewable energy companies flirting with bankruptcy: FuelCell Energy (NSDQ: FCEL) and SunPower (NSDQ: SPWR). For Portfolio companies, the verdict from later reporters’ results is the same as from the early returns. Number one, all of our companies are on track with the investment plans behind long-term earnings and dividend growth guidance.

More Telecom Cuts

By Roger S. Conrad on Jun. 10, 2024
Only three US communications companies have avoided dividend cuts since 1996 Deregulation: Giants Comcast Corp (NSDQ: CMCSA) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), and specialty fiber broadband service provider Cogent Communications Holdings (NSDQ: CCOI). Last month, small town-focused Telephone & Data Systems (NYSE: TDS) slashed its quarterly dividend from 19 cents to just 4 cents per share. The -79 percent cut reflects the proposed sale of wireless operations and related spectrum by the company’s 72.66 percent-owned US Cellular Corp (NYSE: USM) unit to T-Mobile US (NSDQ: TMUS).

Two Ways to Play the Return of Utility M&A

By Roger S. Conrad on Jun. 10, 2024
No merger between operating utilities has ever failed to create a stronger, more resilient company. That’s a claim no other sector can make. Providing electricity, heat, communications and water service is a scale business. Larger companies spread out costs over a wider population and raise vast sums of capital more easily. And they’re better able to handle the inevitable handle shocks to the system, be they natural or man-made disasters.

What to Make of Takeover Tuesday

By Roger S. Conrad on May. 28, 2024

There was an explosion of takeover activity in the Utility Report Card coverage universe today. Here’s a look at four deals announced today and what they mean for us.

Utility Bonds: Still Keeping It Short

By Roger S. Conrad on May. 12, 2024
A number of readers have asked my views on bonds as an alternative to dividend paying stocks. That’s understandable, given what’s been general investor disinterest in dividends over the past year and a half, even when companies have raised them reliably and robustly.

The Rest of Portfolio Q1 Earnings: What You Need to Know

By Roger S. Conrad on May. 11, 2024
Yesterday, I posted the May issue of Conrad’s Utility Investor, highlighting what’s important from Q1 results and guidance updates for 29 Portfolio recommendations. Since then, seven more of top picks have released results.

Renewable-Focused Utilities: Joining Energy’s March Higher

By Roger S. Conrad on May. 9, 2024
There are no energy stocks in the S&P 500’s top 10. The biggest utility, NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE), is only #56. And even all utilities and oil and gas stocks together are just 6 percent of the stock market’s premier blue chip index. That’s historic underweighting. But since oil prices bottomed in spring 2020, the S&P Energy Index has beaten the technology-stock laden S&P 500 by nearly 160 percentage points.

Southern Company: Poised for Post-Vogtle Growth

By Roger S. Conrad on May. 9, 2024
In late April, Georgia Power’s unit 4 of the Vogtle nuclear plant entered full commercial service—joining Unit 3, which has been operating smoothly since last July. And with customer rates to pay for the facility fully in place, the book is now finally closed on a construction project that began in August 2008 and ultimately cost $30 billion, versus initial estimates of $14 billion. During Southern’s Q1 earnings and guidance call earlier this month, CEO Chris Womack stated unequivocally his view that the US “is going to need more nuclear.” But he also said “we’re going to celebrate what we’ve done at Vogtle for a very long time before we give any consideration” to launching another project.

AT&T Inc: “Showing” In the US Telecom A Winner for Investors

By Roger S. Conrad on May. 9, 2024
When a stock sells for just 7.7 times expected next 12 months earnings, it’s clearly unloved by investors. And that’s clearly the case for America’s number 3 telecom AT&T Inc (NYSE: T), after returning less than 3 percent a year over the past decade. There are numerous reasons for AT&T’s underperformance. But the biggest was US government rejection of its proposed merger with T-Mobile US (NSDQ: TMUS), which led to a disastrous, debt-expanding foray into the entertainment business. And the company has dealt with the fallout ever since, including a first-ever -46.6 percent dividend cut as part of the Warner Brothers (NSDQ: WBD) spinoff in April 2022.

MODEL PORTFOLIOS & RATINGS

ABOUT ROGER CONRAD

Roger S. Conrad needs no introduction to individual and professional investors, many of whom have profited from his decades of experience uncovering the best dividend-paying stocks for accumulating sustainable wealth. Roger b