Back to the Future

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Conrad’s Utility Investor, your complete guide to earning lifelong income from essential services. At the core of the issue are my three portfolios: Conservative Income, Aggressive Income and Dividend Reinvestment. The tables introduce the charter members of each group, and my objectives for each.

My Utility Report Card consists of 200 essential services companies that are rated buy, hold or sell based on two factors. One is its total return potential, which I loosely define as the sum of yield and dividend growth. Over time, dividend-paying stocks track the growth of their payouts, so this is a pretty good gauge of expected capital gains if all goes well.

The other factor is my Quality Grade, which measures how likely a company will remain healthy and growing. An A-rated company has the best odds of staying on track, no matter what the economy and markets throw at it. An F-rated company has the worst chance of making it.

This month’s Feature Article looks at the danger and opportunity presented by these trends, as well as from the continuing momentum-led nature of the market and what appear to be longer-term shifts in essential service investment. The Portfolio Article, “Solid Foundations”, highlights the charter members of the portfolios in more detail. And the Endangered Dividends section focused on companies at greatest risk.