Both benefit from a shift to green energy

Article Excerpt

These two utilities continue to shift their focus away from fossil-fuel power plants to renewable energy projects. Regulators will let them raise power rates to offset those costs, which cuts the risk for investors. Even so, we feel Alliant is in a better position to meet its low-carbon goals than Ameren. ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $63 is a buy. This utility (New York symbol LNT; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 250.9 million; Market cap: $15.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.alliantenergy.com) sells power and natural gas to 1.4 million clients in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. In the second quarter of 2022, Alliant’s revenue rose 15.4%, to $943 million from $817 million a year earlier. That was due to warmer-than-usual weather, which increased demand for power to run air conditioners. Earnings gained 10.5%, $0.63 a share (or a total of $159 million) from $0.57 a share (or $144 million). Alliant continues to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. As part of that…