As major indices react to inflation news and interest rate cut speculation, traders should look to adjust their portfolios. The S&P 500 dipped over 5% in the past month, yet the Utilities sectors saw gains. In this Trading Central report, we highlight four Utilities companies amid souring market sentiment.
We utilized Trading Central's Strategy Builder and Fundamental Insight to identify outperforming equities. Screening criteria focused on US-listed stocks with a minimum $2 billion market cap, emphasizing maturity and stability. Stocks with a Trading Central Quantamental Rating (TCQR) above 55 were prioritized, indicating strong fundamentals compared to industry peers. Additionally, we favored companies with strong Quality and Value Factor scores, showing favorable financial ratios and valuation metrics. The selected companies will also boast exceptional balance sheet strength and earnings quality relative to industry peers.
ETR:US
Entergy Corp is a 22.77 billion dollar corporation boasting a TCQR of 66, the highest in our selection, which has risen 3.5% over the past 4 weeks. Entergy has a Quality score of 75 and a Value rating of 73.
PCG:US
PG&E, a provider of natural gas and electric service based in California, currently has a Quality score of 79, the highest in our list, and the second lowest Value rating at 60. The stock is up 2.7% in the last month.
OTTR:US
Otter Tail, despite outperforming all the other stocks in our report in the previous 4 weeks with an increase of 4.1%, has the lowest TCQR at 58. It has an attractive 74 Quality Factor rating and a reputable Value score of 55.
ENIC:US
Enel Chile has underperformed its peers in the last 4 weeks, sliding 0.3%. However, the stock has the second highest TCQR, at 62, and the highest Value score at 81, which indicates the stock looks to be favorable despite its recent price performance.
Trading Central Strategy Builder provides a back-testing capability to evaluate how well an investing strategy would have worked in the past. Using a five-year historical period with quarterly rebalancing, the screen described had a 16-per-cent annualized return compared with 11 percent for the S&P 500 index.
