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Margins at various utilities continue to be squeezed as a result of tepid power demand in service territories, cheap natural gas, and tougher competition from renewables. While these conditions have affected regulated and unregulated utilities alike, senior utility executives are increasingly blaming deregulation, or competitive markets.In the last quarter, earnings… Read More

Few power utilities can claim to have a dividend as safe as Alliant Energy Corp. (NYSE: LNT). After the latest upgrade to our Safety Rating System, fewer utilities achieved the highest score: a perfect 8. But Alliant did.By any measure, Alliant showed itself as a formidable company. In an industry… Read More

Michigan-based ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE: ITC), the largest pure-play transmission company in the U.S., owns assets that comprise the country’s electrical grid, crucial infrastructure that is increasingly seen as the most valuable piece of the electric utility system.That’s because as the grid is transformed into a smart grid, or “energy… Read More

As AT&T inches closer to consummating its deal to acquire DirecTV, its primary competitor is pursuing its own critical acquisition in the content arena.On May 12, Verizon announced it will acquire AOL for $4.4 billion in an all-cash deal.While the AOL deal is one-tenth the size of the $48 billion… Read More

With the U.S. earnings season drawing to a close, the S&P 500 is on track to show first-quarter profit growth of just 0.3% year over year. That may be underwhelming, but it’s still better than the 4.7% decline analysts had originally forecast.Meanwhile, utilities largely keep chugging along, with modest first-quarter… Read More

Power utilities are staring down the barrel of a slow-growth, rising-rate environment. And while the sector has enjoyed an incredible tailwind over the past decade, these firms can’t afford to be complacent. Likewise, neither can utility investors.As the era of historically low interest rates inevitably comes to a close, we… Read More