Beat The September Blues With These 4 Utility Stocks
Zacks Investment Research | Sep 05, 2019 09:29PM ET
September has historically been the worst month for the stock market, with average return for the Dow Jones Industrial Average being a negative 0.75%. While several theories for this uncanny phenomenon have been doing the rounds, the most common notion is that investors take time off during the summer months, inducing a drop in trading volumes.
As it is, the global market is far from being stable at the moment, courtesy of the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute, piling government debt and slowdown in some of the major economies. In a developing economy like India, GDP growth slipped to a six-year low level of 5% in the June quarter. Meanwhile in China, GDP growth at the end of the second quarter was 6.2% — the weakest in 27 years. Thanks to these concerning developments, the World Bank recently lowered its 2019 global growth forecast to 2.6% from the January projection of 2.9%.
U.S. GDP growth is expected to decelerate to 2.5% this year from 2.9% in 2018, and then ease to 1.7% and 1.6% in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Amid fears of weakening U.S. economic conditions, the Feb decided to cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.25%.
Rate cut is a positive for capital intensive domestic-focused utilities.
Unitil Corporation (NYSE:UTL) is a public utility holding company, engaged in the distribution of electricity and natural gas in the United States. The company’s ROE (TTM) is 9.6%.
This stock recorded a positive earnings surprise of 28.57% in the last-reported quarter and has returned 19.6% year to date. The company’s dividend yield is 2.42%.
Alliant Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:LNT) is a holding company with subsidiaries engaged in regulated electric and natural gas services. ROE (TTM) of the company is 11.11%.
This stock has returned 24.4% year to date. The company’s dividend yield is 2.65%.
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BCE, Inc. (TSX:BCE) is Canada's largest communications company. ROE (TTM) of the company is 19.15%.
This stock registered a positive earnings surprise of 3.34% in the last-reported quarter and has returned 21% year to date. The company’s dividend yield is 4.95%,
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