Feature Article

Real industry trends don’t spontaneously occur. They’re forged on the ground by what companies are actually doing. And you spot them by focusing on individual companies’ results, and aggregating your findings.

Fourth quarter is usually a good time to hold utility stocks. But it’s only rarely a good time to buy, as prices often reach yearly highs.

Capital spending plus regulatory support equals rising earnings, dividends and share prices: That’s the formula for superior total returns in utility stocks. And it’s what new Conservative Income Portfolio recommendation SCANA Corp (NYSE: SCG) is locked in to deliver at least to the end of the decade.

When AES Corp (NYSE: AES) started doing business in the 1990s, it had a simple philosophy: Scour the globe for growing electricity demand and execute projects to meet it.

PVR Partners (NYSE: PVR) earns an exit from my Endangered Dividends List this month. The catalyst was not third quarter earnings results, but the acquisition by Regency Energy Partners (NYSE: RGP) for 1.02 Regency units and a cash payment to be determined at close in first quarter 2014.

RWE AG (Germany: RWE, OTC: RWEOY) plans to cut its 2014 annual dividend (payable April 17) to one euro, from a previous rate of 2 euros. That’s the third dramatic cut in five years for the German power giant. And it may not be the last, given some uniquely challenging conditions.

Shrinking traditional business and hefty debt have made wireline phone companies a reliable income source for short sellers in recent years. The game, however, has moved on.

Distribution growth shapes returns for master limited partnerships (MLPs).

Thus far, my strategy has been to populate the three Conrad’s Utility Investor Portfolios as quickly as I can with high-quality fare, without paying too much.

Who says the bond market is washed out? Certainly not Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ).

The company’s record $49 billion bond sale has not only locked in financing for its $130 billion buyout of Vodafone Plc’s (London: VOD, NYSE: VOD) minority stake in Verizon Wireless. But it was actually doubled, eliminating the need to raise funds in Europe.