Feature Article

Sustainability worries about North American shale oil and gas production, governance concerns and an ugly half-decade of dividend cuts convinced many investors to flee the midstream energy sector and never look back.

US/China trade deal optimism has gained steam this month. That’s pushed up the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond to its highest level since late July. And the result has been a mini-sector rotation out of many dividend-paying stocks.

Deutsche Telekom (Germany: DTE, OTC: DTEGY) cut in its annual dividend to 60 Euro cents, from last year’s 70 Euro cents rate. The move surprised us because business is good.

Elections have consequences. And that goes double when you operate a heavily regulated essential services business.

For most US states and localities, 2019 has been an off year with few contested races to bring voters to the polls.

Carlos Slim’s America Movil (Mexico: AMXL, NYSE: AMX) today is a global powerhouse serving nearly 280 million wireless and 85 million wireline customers in more than a dozen countries. Mexico is most important at a third of revenue, followed by Brazil at 20 percent and the US at 15 percent.

Outside of regulated utilities, no group of companies has demonstrated greater long-term resilience than super oils like Top 10 DRIP Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX). That’s still true despite what many consider their greatest challenge yet: Global decarbonization.

There are about three months remaining in 2019, and much can still happen. But up to now, it’s been a quite profitable year for Conrad’s Utility Investor Portfolios.

Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL) exited the Endangered Dividends List last spring, following its all-cash takeover offer of $41.50 per share from Australia’s IGM Investors in May. Last week, the deal inched closer to a fourth quarter 2019 close, as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US and Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission signed off.

The Dow Jones Utility Average has returned 15.1 percent annually since the start of the bull market in March 2009. So far in 2019, the pace has been twice that.

Utility stocks have benefitted from the desire to buy American in a trade challenged world, their reputation for solid defense, falling interest rates’ positive impact on borrowing costs and yield appeal, and the outlook for accelerating earnings growth next year while other industries stall.

Roughly a year ago, deep-pocketed Global Infrastructure Partners replaced downsizing NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) as Clearway Energy’s (NYSE: CWEN) primary owner and sponsor. We immediately added the yieldco to our Aggressive Holdings, anticipating faster cash flow and dividend growth.