News and Analysis

The resulting 99.1 percent boost in fourth quarter revenue wasn’t enough to answer several nagging questions about SolarCity’s long-run sustainability as an enterprise.

Fourth quarter and full-year earnings normally dominate the news this time of year. And rightly so: They’re what ultimately shape shareholder returns.

The Conrad’s Utility Investor Portfolios officially launched on July 31, 2013. Since that time, the Dow Jones Utility Average is off -2.3 percent, including dividends paid.

My Aggressive Income Portfolio is up by 9.3 percent, while the Conservative Income Portfolio has returned 3.3 percent.

US electric utilities have enthusiastically embraced renewable energy the past few years. That includes companies that have traditionally relied heavily on fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

Will Santa Claus visit utility stock investors this year? The sector was out of the gate quickly to start the fourth quarter of 2013. But concerns about the “tapering” off of Federal Reserve bond buying quickly slowed things down.

Fear of rising interest rates again appears to be triggering selling of utility stocks. I’ve shown over and again that the sector’s so-called interest rate sensitivity is a false relationship over any recent period longer than a few weeks. Consequently, lower prices should be viewed as a buying opportunity for recommended stocks.

Shares of transmission line operator ITC Holdings (NYSE: ITC) have dropped more than 14 percent from the all-time highs reached in early November. The immediate catalyst: A group of industrial users have demanded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cut its allowed returns.

Utilities and other providers of essential services are proven survivors of even the worst market debacles. As the 2008 market crash showed, the sector takes hits with the rest of the stock market.

In the October issue, I added four stocks to the Conrad’s Utility Investor model portfolios.

There was plenty to talk about this week from telecom to utilities to energy MLPs.