Best Buys for a 2021 Fantastic Finish

Credit whatever you want for breaking the logjam in the US Congress. But starting next year, US electricity, natural gas, telecom and water utilities will enjoy unprecedented federal government largesse to support capital spending plans, courtesy of the $1.2 billion infrastructure law passed last week with bipartisan support. The August feature article archived on the CUI website highlights my list of winners from the coming spending boom. They include well-placed developers of renewable energy and hydrogen, broadband deployers and utility construction companies. This month I’m repeating my buy recommendations for all of them, especially this month’s Focus stocks Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX) and Vistra Corp (NYSE: VST). The other big news is Q3 earnings releases and guidance updates we’ve now seen for the majority of the Utility Report Card coverage universe. As my comments in the table make clear, positive business momentum from first half 2021 has carried over for most. And that’s despite ongoing disruption of supply chains, tighter labor market conditions, rising commodity prices and other assorted inflation pressures.