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Feature Article

Return to Dividend Growth on Track

By Roger S. Conrad on Aug. 11, 2018
Back in February, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure (NYSE: HASI) announced it wouldn’t raise its dividend this year. We didn’t like the freeze but agreed with management’s desire to instead build coverage and fund growth, while absorbing the expense of converting then-hefty variable rate debt to fixed rates.

Big Yield, Steady Growth and a Currency Kicker

By Roger S. Conrad on Aug. 11, 2018
Conservative Holding Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (TSX: BEP-U, NYSE: BEP) is lower by about 11 percent in US dollar terms this year. That’s 11 percentage points worse than the Dow Jones Utility Average and 18 points behind the S&P 500. But Brookfield’s stumbling share price is a stark contrast to an underlying business that’s stronger than ever, underscored by a 6 percent plus dividend still on track for 5 to 8 percent long-term annual growth.

Portfolio: What’s Important From Q2 Earnings

By Roger S. Conrad on Aug. 11, 2018
Whether your primary investment objective is income, safety, capital growth or short-term gains, earnings reporting season is where the rubber meets the road. For traders, market reaction is what’s most important. For investors in our three Conrad’s Utility Investor model portfolios, it’s the actual numbers and guidance that determine whether companies are still on the right track, and therefore if we want to stick with them.

Merging to Cut Distributions

By Roger S. Conrad on Aug. 11, 2018
Enbridge Inc (TSX: ENB, NYSE: ENB) management isn’t budging from take under offers for its US MLP affiliates Enbridge Energy Partners (NYSE: EEP) and Spectra Energy Partners (NYSE: SEP). That boosts the odds the proposed stock-for-stock exchange ratio will hold, along with distribution cuts of 40 percent for Enbridge and 10 percent for Spectra.

Big Yield Hunting The Utility Way

By Roger S. Conrad on Aug. 11, 2018
Giant accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP projects more than 60 percent of Americans will outlive their investment portfolios. Some will over spend. But the greatest threat to all is simply poor investment returns: The result of lacking a disciplined income strategy and relying on investments that sacrifice too much potential return for a dubious promise of safety. I definitely count cash alternatives and the vast majority of bonds in that category. As our table “High Yields With Upside” highlights, we’ve done very well buying undervalued fixed income from our Utility Report Card universe of essential services companies.

Telefonica: Deep Value Returning to Growth

By Roger S. Conrad on Jul. 3, 2018
Shares of Aggressive Holding Telefonica SA (Spain: TEF, NYSE: TEF) have been hit this year by a weakened Euro/US dollar exchange rate and concern about the health of emerging markets. The company garners roughly half its revenue from South America, including Brazil.

AT&T: Merging Network with Media

By Roger S. Conrad on Jul. 3, 2018
AT&T Inc’s (NYSE: T) court victory over the U.S. Department of Justice last month was as complete as any anti-trust ruling in memory. In fact, Judge Richard Leon actually warned government lawyers not to appeal and face certain failure.

Picking Your Spots in Choppy Times

By Roger S. Conrad on Jul. 3, 2018
We’re at the halfway mark for 2018. And so far, it’s been an almost completely flat performance for the CUI model portfolios. Including dividends, our Conservative Holdings are lower by -2.2 percent. Aggressive Holdings are underwater by -1.5 percent and the Top 10 DRIPs are down by -1.2 percent.

SCANA Cuts, Who’s Next?

By Roger S. Conrad on Jul. 3, 2018
SCANA Corp (NYSE: SCG) will cut its quarterly dividend to 12.37 cents a share starting with the July 18 payment. The -79.8 percent reduction is in response to the South Carolina state legislature, which last week passed a bill reducing the 18 percent rate hike to pay for the cancelled Summer nuclear plant to 3.2 percent.

Picks and Pans for Second Half 2018

By Roger S. Conrad on Jul. 3, 2018
One tenth of a percentage point: That’s the Dow Jones Utility Average’s first half 2018 return. The almost perfectly flat finish was not without its share of volatile moments. The upward spike in the benchmark 10-year Treasury note yield, for example, triggered many well-capitalized investment strategies’ sell signals. And the last couple weeks reversed much of the resulting damage, as global trade worries catalyzed a flight into stocks perceived as not directly at risk.

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ABOUT ROGER CONRAD

Roger S. Conrad needs no introduction to individual and professional investors, many of whom have profited from his decades of experience uncovering the best dividend-paying stocks for accumulating sustainable wealth. Roger b