Bookmark and Share

20 Stocks To Buy | The Most Recommended Utilities At The Market

Utilities with a buy or better rating originally published at "long-term-investments.blogspot.com". Some investors love utilities, others hate them. I am somewhere in the middle. I never invested money into the utility sector because I know that strong growth is nearly impossible at low investment cots. So you should not get a quick big return.

The only chance to make a little money is with time optimized stock trading. But that's to complicated for me and means hard work. I love it to buy some high-quality growth stocks to receive the dividends without keeping an eye on anything and having fun with my live.

The good thing on utilities is that they generate stable cash flows and they can use the incoming money to pay high dividends and repurchase own shares. I believe that it makes more sense to buy bonds of those companies because if the company jumps into trouble the dividend payments and share buyback programs will be reduced as first. The bondholders suffer at the end.

However, I like to show you today which utilities are the most recommended at the market. I made a small list of the 20 best stocks which excludes stocks with a market capitalization below USD 2 billion because I personally think the risk should be much higher as for mid-capitalized stocks.

Below the 20 hottest utilities are sixteen with a dividend; two are high-yields.

Here are my favorite stocks:
(Subscribe my Blog via RSS Feed or E-Mail. Alternative, you can follow me on Facebook or Twitter)

National Grid (NYSE:NGG) has a market capitalization of $40.78 billion. The company employs 25,645 people, generates revenue of $22.229 billion and has a net income of $3.275 billion. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $7.619 billion. The EBITDA margin is 34.28 percent (the operating margin is 25.08 percent and the net profit margin 14.73 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 48.64 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 249.22 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 22.25 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $5.08. Last fiscal year, the company paid $3.16 in the form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 11.02, the P/S ratio is 1.87 and the P/B ratio is finally 2.86. The dividend yield amounts to 5.52 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.62.


”Long-Term
Long-Term Stock History Chart Of National Grid (NGG)
”Long-Term
Long-Term Dividends History of National Grid (NGG)
”Long-Term
Long-Term Dividend Yield History of National Grid (NGG)

Edison International (NYSE:EIX) has a market capitalization of $15.04 billion. The company employs 19,930 people, generates revenue of $12.760 billion and has a net income of $24.00 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $2.209 billion. The EBITDA margin is 17.31 percent (the operating margin is 2.51 percent and the net profit margin 0.19 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 29.51 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 127.89 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of -0.33 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $-1.09. Last fiscal year, the company paid $1.28 in the form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is not calculable, the P/S ratio is 1.18 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.50. The dividend yield amounts to 2.93 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.58.


”Long-Term
Long-Term Stock History Chart Of Edison International (EIX)
”Long-Term
Long-Term Dividends History of Edison International (EIX)
”Long-Term
Long-Term Dividend Yield History of Edison International (EIX)

Northeast Utilities (NYSE:NU) has a market capitalization of $12.31 billion. The company employs 6,063 people, generates revenue of $4.465 billion and has a net income of $400.51 million. The firm’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) amounts to $1.096 billion. The EBITDA margin is 24.55 percent (the operating margin is 17.78 percent and the net profit margin 8.97 percent).

Financial Analysis: The total debt represents 34.36 percent of the company’s assets and the total debt in relation to the equity amounts to 130.20 percent. Due to the financial situation, a return on equity of 10.09 percent was realized. Twelve trailing months earnings per share reached a value of $2.00. Last fiscal year, the company paid $1.10 in the form of dividends to shareholders.

Market Valuation: Here are the price ratios of the company: The P/E ratio is 19.64, the P/S ratio is 2.79 and the P/B ratio is finally 1.75. The dividend yield amounts to 3.46 percent and the beta ratio has a value of 0.45.


”Long-Term
Long-Term Stock History Chart Of Northeast Utilities (NU)
”Long-Term
Long-Term Dividends History of Northeast Utilities (NU)
”Long-Term
Long-Term Dividend Yield History of Northeast Utilities (NU)


Take a closer look at the full list of the best buy rated utilities. The average P/E ratio amounts to 28.43 and forward P/E ratio is 21.15. The dividend yield has a value of 2.78 percent. Price to book ratio is 2.63 and price to sales ratio 1.87. The operating margin amounts to 13.51 percent and the beta ratio is 0.79. Stocks from the list have an average debt to equity ratio of 2.56.

Here is the full table with some fundamentals (TTM):

Most Recommended Utilities (Click to enlarge)

If you like this list, please give us a Facebook Like, make a tweet or post a comment below!

Related stock ticker symbols:
CIG, NGG, LNT, IDA, NU, UGI, TRGP, OKE, EIX, OGE, SBS, AWK, NRG, AES, EQT, HNP, ELP, CPN, KEP, WGP

Selected Articles:

*I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I receive no compensation to write about any specific stock, sector or theme.