The businesses backing Utility Forecaster Portfolio stocks have shed a lot of debt since 2001, when Enron provided the sector its own private Lehman Brothers.
Investors love bonds right now, despite the fact that yields are hardly attractive. Dividends paid by solid utilities are safer, however, and offer considerably more upside.
Investing in overseas utilities confers the same advantages of predictable cash flow. But foreign jurisdictions aren’t as unsettled when it comes to regulation and taxation. Go abroad for high income and currency gains.
Several Portfolio recommendations, particularly high-yielding Canadian trusts and MLPs, have bounced around a bit. Volatility doesn’t alter the fact that these companies continue to report solid operating results.
The recent rush to sell new debt and the voracious consumption of these issues raises questions about whether bond buyers really are more savvy than equity investors. Today’s yield simply don’t adequately compensate you for prevailing risks.
Entergy Corp’s (NYSE: ETR) plan to spin off its nuclear assets didn’t work out as planned, but the company is arguable more valuable now than when its stock traded near $120 per share.
Spain-based Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) is growing rapidly in Latin America. It’s partnership with Brazil-based ViVo (NYSE: VIV) bodes well for dividend growth.
Longtime UF holding Dominion Resources (NYSE: D) has sold its exploration and production assets, paid down debt and invested in energy infrastructure projects–all with an eye on boosting dividends at a double-digit rate.
Exxon Mobil’s takeover of XTO Energy has cleared federal antitrust hurdles, but Comcast is encountering resistance in its effort to buy NBC Universal. Here’s what’s new in the mergers-and-acquisitions game.
The global economic recovery will lift the boats that stayed afloat during the Great Recession. Our favorites are poised to pay–whether growth picks up quickly or the up-turn is slow to develop.
