America has more than 100 electric and natural gas companies, two dozen major communications providers and roughly a dozen large, investor-owned water utilities. That adds up to colossal opportunities for consolidation in coming years. Read More

As we go to press we’re still waiting on several Portfolio picks to release numbers. But the underlying business of every favorite to report thus far is in great condition. All are first-rate holdings Read More

A permanently low tax rate on dividend income: That’s by far the biggest positive for income investors in President Obama’s proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2011. Read More

Most Canadian income trusts will convert to tax-paying corporations this year. The good news: Most will maintain dividends at the same rate--or else very close to it. Read More

AT&T (NYSE: T) reported a 24.4 percent boost in fourth-quarter 2009 earnings, with its extremely profitable alliance with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) activating 3.1 million iPhones. Read More

No hole has proven too deep for regulated utilities to climb out of--provided they cut operating risk and debt and repair relations with regulators. That’s what NiSource (NYSE: NI) has done since falling from grace during the 2001-02 bear market. Read More

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. Read More

FirstEnergy Corp (NYSE: FE) and Allegheny Energy (NYSE: AYE) have announced the power industry’s biggest merger in years. The immediate winners of the $8.5 billion deal are shareholders of Allegheny, who received a premium of 32 percent to the company’s pre-announcement share price. Read More

The Obama budget would not only extend preferential tax rates for dividends and capital gains. It would basically make them permanent, firmly establishing the principle that savings and investment be rewarded, not just for buying and selling stocks, but for holding on and collection income. Read More

The economy is still crawling back from the near-meltdown of late 2008. But there’s a long way to go, and there are plenty of challenges ahead that may prolong a full recovery. Read More