Jim, I am holding on to EXC for now. It was Roger Conrad that said in the entire history of electricity there have been hundreds of mergers and every single one of them saw the acquiring company come out stronger for it. If EXC fails, it will be the first time since Edison discovered electricity.
I think it will take a couple of years to come to fruition though. So, I'm trying to be patient, I won't add to it other than reinvesting the dividends.
If I only owned two or three utilities, I might not be as patient, but since I haven't added to this one other than reinvested dividends, it is my smallest utility position now, and I'm willing to take the chance it will work out.
I will be reviewing my utility portfolio once I get all my shrubs in the ground. That's going to take another week or two. I'm doing a major overhaul in my landscaping design. It's going to be gardening magazine quality.
In any event, one of the criteria I will be looking at is dividend growth. I want my utilities to grow the dividend at least 4% per year. That's where my focus is going to be, otherwise, I'll just keep what I have.
ED will never make my portfolio because of the low dividend growth. The yield isn't high enough to justify a fixed income investment. It would have to be above 5% for me.
Have you seen the dividend growth on AVA the last 4 years? If they cut that in half, I'm still happy. Decent yield too. Value Line said AVA had great potential 3-5 years out. F.A.S.T. Graphs is showing 5 yr estimated total return at 8.7%. Earnings are expected to rise 14% in 2013 and will level out after that to a projected 8.7% total return.
I can't recall my research on PPL. I almost bought them, but I don't recall why I didn't. I think I went with AVA instead. I don't have my information in front of me, I'll have to try and remember to track it down over the weekend.
Oh now I remember why I didn't buy PPL, it was the low dividend growth rate the last 3 years, where as AVA had a terrific dividend growth rate.
Anyway, I'll take a yield under 5% if I can dividend growth above 4%. If I can't get the dividend growth, I won't accept less that a 5% yield.
I would love to see D and SO come down in price a little. I'd add to both of them. |
