Buy utilities despite today’s higher rates

Article Excerpt

Rising interest rates boost bond yields and their appeal with investors. Conversely, rising rates can hurt the appeal of high-yield utilities, and their shares, since those companies must pay higher interest on their debt. Still, top utilities remain financially healthy and continue to expand and pay dividends. Also, when interest rates peak and start to decline, utility stocks should attract renewed investor interest. Below we discuss three ETFs focused on utilities, while our supplement on page 70 looks at the impact of interest rates on those companies. UTILITIES SELECT SECTOR SPDR ETF $66.49 (New York symbol XLU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $15.4 billion) tracks the Utilities Select Sector Index, which includes the companies in the S&P 500 index classified as utilities. Stocks are allocated weightings based on their market capitalization. The portfolio includes electricity utilities (66% of assets), water utilities (3%), gas (2%), and power producers (2%). A further 28% of the holdings are classified as multi-utilities. The ETF holds 30 stocks, with the…