Roger S. Conrad

Macroeconomic developments and moves in the broader market matter when you buy and hold individual stocks. But if you have chosen well, paid a reasonable price, and can keep your emotions in check, even a 2008-style collapse will only delay, not derail, your wealth-building efforts.

The Dow Jones Utility Average hit a new all-time high this month, but pockets of value still exist in our coverage universe.

Maligned for an ostensibly broken business model earlier this year, the yieldcos covered in our Utility Report Card have rallied hard, rewarding patient investors with impressive gains. After this run-up, only one yieldco still trades below our buy target.

Take advantage of recent weakness in this master limited partnership's stock to lock in a 9 percent yield.

Longtime Endangered Dividends List member Plains All-American Pipeline LP announced its second distribution cut in a year.

We explore the reasons behind Southern Company's recent underperformance and explain why investors should stick with the stock.

Sempra Energy's takeover offer for Energy Future Holdings--the fourth bid that brought before the Public Utility Commission of Texas--has a good chance of securing approval, though some adjustments may be necessary.

Roger Conrad will host an exclusive Live Chat for Conrad's Utility Investor subscribers on Sept. 14, 2017, at 2 p.m. ET.

With the bull market in its ninth year and equity valuations at historically elevated levels, investors’ growing preference for passive and quantitative strategies seems risky at a time in the cycle when selectivity is critical to success. Giving up this control for lower fees strikes us as a heavy price to pay. Although our favorite utilities proved their worth by maintaining or growing their dividends throughout the Great Recession, these stocks weren’t immune to the gut-wrenching volatility that roiled the market. Weathering the inevitable storms is much easier if you took a little profit off the table when valuations reached unsustainably high levels—a practice we’ve advocated throughout the year. Investors should also remain opportunistic and snap up shares of high-quality companies that temporarily fall out of favor. To this end, we highlight some of our best ideas in the current market. Don’t forget to check out the Utility Report Card for our in-depth analyses of second-quarter results, as well as updated ratings and Quality Grades.

Accelerating adoption of the internet of things creates compelling opportunities for some of the companies covered in our Utility Report Card.