Roger S. Conrad

Roger S. Conrad is editor of Utility Forecaster, the nation’s leading advisory on essential services stocks, bonds and preferred stocks. His proprietary safety rating system evaluates the prospects of every significant electric, natural gas, telecommunications and water company, including utility-based mutual funds and foreign utilities. Roger’s penchant for detailed research and his studied insights into utilities markets have garnered him a wide audience of subscribers—not to mention a bevy of industry awards for his perceptive reporting, commentary and investment advice.

He brings the same enthusiasm and intelligence to Roger Conrad’s Canadian Edge, an Internet-based publication devoted to uncovering lucrative investment opportunities in Canadian royalty trusts. Roger’s exhaustive coverage of how recent changes to Canada’s tax laws will affect these companies has earned him a reputation as one of the leading authorities on Canadian trusts. Subscribers and the national media often contact him for information on the latest economic developments and investment opportunities north of the border.

Roger is also associate editor of Personal Finance and co-editor of Vital Resource Investor, a subscription-based service that seeks opportunities for equity investors in the natural resource markets across the world.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Emory University and a master’s degree in international management from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird). In addition, he is the author of Power Hungry: Strategic Investing in Telecommunications, Utilities and Other Essential Services and coauthor of The Agile Investor and Market Timing for the Nineties with Stephen Leeb. He is also an avid outdoorsman and baseball fan.

Content Posted by Roger S. Conrad

Bond Buyers: Be Wary

The refinancing boom is an extreme positive for stocks, particularly dividend-paying stocks. And with investors focused on the possibility of a stock market correction, it’s a major positive that’s by no means reflected in today’s share prices. That’s very bullish for the rest of 2010 and beyond, even if the S&P 500 has another relapse.

Canada's Real Gold Medal

Canada's prudence obscures what could be an explosive upside in coming years--particularly for US-based investors who will get the added benefit of putting greenbacks to work in loonie terms.

Big Yield Hunting

Everyone wants to buy into a big yield. The trouble is most people aren’t willing to put in the time to tell the good from the bad and ugly. As a result, they’re either overly skeptical--thereby missing out on what would otherwise be an ideal investment--or gullible, in which case they’re liable to make even worse moves.

A Tale of Two Indicators

China is the undisputed leader of this still-toddling recovery; we’ll wait for further confirmation before we ring the double-dip alarm.

Power Politics

To meet the military's increasing demand for electricity, the Dept of Defense has intensified its search for permanent, on-site generation. Nuclear power is one option.

Nuclear Winter

What if a third of the power supply for an entire US state were suddenly shut off? Would its residents find themselves in the dark, as they do routinely in developing nations?

How Dirty Is Dirty?

No other industrial democracy in the world has an asset similar to Canada's oil sands. Resource constraints brought on by new demand from China, in particular, and India will be far easier to navigate if we take an open-minded approach to it.

Earnings Season

Blame it on Sarbanes-Oxley and subsequent populist-inspired attempts by Washington to protect investors from Wall Street fraud: Year-end filing has become so regulation-driven that fourth-quarter earnings reporting season lasts literally the entire first quarter.

Time to Renew

Hydroelectric power is ubiquitous in many Canadian provinces, so much so that the word “hydro” has come to stand for electricity generally; the names of the government-run companies that provide such power reflect this significant presence.

Politics and Investing

Letting your politics dictate your investments is a terrible “strategy,” but don't ignore political developments.