Conservative Income Feature

The best network will win the most business: That was the underlying premise behind Verizon Communications’ (NYSE: VZ) successful rise to become America’s largest wireless company, as the leader of the previous decade’s 4G revolution.

Centerpoint Energy (NYSE: CNP) has been a big winner since we entered its convertible preferred stock in mid-2020, following a 48 percent cut in the common dividend. Now with shares trading at a premium valuation of 22 times expected next 12 months earnings, it’s fair to ask how much more upside we can realistically expect.

In the December 2021 feature article, I noted the S&P Telecoms Index traded at a bear market valuation 9.4 times earnings, excluding a handful of technology names like Alphabet Inc (NSDQ: GOOGL). If anything, investors’ gloomy consensus on the sector has thickened since, with every communications company but one in our coverage universe losing more ground.

NextEra Energy Partners (NYSE: NEP) joined our Conservative Holdings in May 2016. Since then, its dividend has increased by 122 percent. That includes 15.1 percent over the last 12 months, which pushed the yield on our initial investment to nearly 10 percent.

Last July, Dominion Energy (NYSE: D) announced a dramatic and somewhat painful move for shareholders: Selling oil and gas midstream assets to a unit of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK/B) for $9.7 billion including assumed debt, and cutting dividends -33 percent to reflect the resulting reduced cash flow.