Investing Topics: Electric Utilities

When a monthly power bill hits $1,700 plus, people are bound to wonder if there’s a better way to run an electricity market.

Single digit temperatures, record snowfall, millions of utility customers without service, nearly one-third of the state’s power generating capacity shut down and spiking electricity prices: That’s the damage so far from the Great Texas Power Crisis of 2021, which continues wreak havoc across the Lone Star State.

At first glance, MDU Resources (NYSE:MDU) shows a fairly discouraging investment profile. But there are three very good reasons to expect much better in the next 12 months.

From all indications, 2020 has been the worst wildfire season in California’s history. And the state is hardly alone in its misery, as an unprecedented combination of wind gusts and dry conditions have also inflicted record damages throughout the West and Rocky Mountain states.

The first three Portfolio electric utilities have announced Q3 results and delivered guidance,  and the common thread for all three companies is they ignited robust underlying earnings growth by deploying new renewable energy generating capacity, despite pandemic-related pressures

Not even rock-solid business resilience to Covid-19 fallout has been enough to swing US electric utilities from laggards to leaders this year. But another wave of mergers and acquisitions just might do the trick.

Everyone loves a bargain. But when a stock trades at a big discount to market or sector averages, there’s always a reason. And to move to a higher price, the company must face its challenges.

It’s been a little more than 141 years since Thomas Edison threw the first switch on his famous light bulb. What at one time were literally thousands of electric operating companies have merged into just a few dozen of consequence. And not one deal failed to create a financially stronger utility, a record no other industry can match.

Final certification isn’t until May 22. But preliminary voting results show a strong majority in favor of PG&E Corp’s (NYSE: PCG) restructuring plan, allowing the California utility to exit the bankruptcy it entered in January 2019.

Heading into Q1 earnings reporting season, the big question for electric utilities was how big a hit COVID-19 fallout would deliver to demand for power. Now we have answers from first reporter NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE).