Feature Article

Conservative Holding Avangrid Inc (NYSE: AGR) hasn’t raised its dividend since July 2018. Not surprisingly, its returns have since lagged the Dow Jones Utility Average by more than 25 percentage points.

Two major developments in the past month promise a favorable reversal of fortune, even as shares have dropped roughly 10 percent to an attractive entry point.

Economics not politics drive investment returns. Don’t get me wrong. Our Portfolio stocks came out very well in the recent election as businesses, future regulatory relations being the key concern.

The renewable energy focus of our electricity stocks is tailor-made for a new White House that will if anything try to speed up America’s ongoing energy transition. And the offshore wind stocks highlighted in the feature article are likely to be the next sector picks to pop, following example of contract generators like Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners (TSX: BEP-U, NYSE: BEP).

Energy Transfer LP (NYSE: ET) and Infraestructura Energetica (Mexico: IENOVA, OTC: IENVF) are the 25^th and 26^th dividend cutters from our Utility Report Card coverage universe in calendar 2020.

The silver lining is management’s decisions were clearly made for preference, rather than of necessity. That’s encouraging for both companies as well as others we track, with the result our Endangered Dividends List is the shortest it’s been all year.

PPL Corp’s (NYSE: PPL) potential sale of UK operations remains a threat to its dividend several weeks into the strategic review. Nonetheless, we’re adding the stock to the Aggressive Holdings now for three reasons.

“Keep it simple” is a best practices business maxim that’s far easier to preach than practice. But when a company consistently sticks to it, superior results follow—as they have for nearly 20 years at Michigan electric and gas utility CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS).

Surging prices for anything to do with renewable energy, lagging valuations for virtually everything else: That’s the current state of affairs for the Utility Report Card coverage as companies gear up to release results for now finished Q3.

Essential services companies by their nature provide something that’s always needed. So it takes a major catastrophe this year’s pandemic and economic fallout to really shake up our Utility Report Card coverage universe.

Never buy a company just because it may get a takeover offer—unless you’d be happy owning if there’s never a deal. That’s a rule I’ve followed religiously for over 35 years in this business. It’s kept me away from some obvious targets like the former Sprint, which was ultimately bought after nearly going bankrupt.

Clearway Energy (NYSE: CWEN) rewarded our patience last month by restoring quarterly dividends to a rate of 31.25 cents per share. The move initially pushed the stock to a new high in the upper-20s. But it also apparently convinced some investors the big gains are done, a mistake the sellers will likely regret.

Barely a century ago, Americans enjoyed plentiful, clean and practically free drinking water. Now ensuring safe supplies and treating waste is an increasingly essential and rapidly growing $200 billion plus global market. Among the surest beneficiaries: The handful of US investor owned utilities, headlined by Conservative Holding Essential Utilities (NYSE: WTRG).