Utilities contribute backbone and Benjamins to the economy

We talk a lot about utilities being the backbone of our economy, since electricity is the maker of the modern world. (You can't go through a single business transaction these days that doesn’t rely on electricity in some way, from powering lights and computers at the local bank to massive Wall Street stock transfers.) But, utilities are also a very profitable business by themselves, contributing to the economy in both backbone and Benjamins. Run correctly, utlities bring in cash and rising share prices for stakeholders.

(In case you're not up on the urban slang: Benjamins started as a slang term for $100 bills, since Ben Franklin is on the $100 bill. It's now grown into a general slang term for all large amounts of dollars and cents.)

So, let’s take a look at some of the dollar-and-cents power news this week.

Barrons is so happy with Southern Company that they’ve downgraded the utility’s shares. No, really. Not kidding. It seems that the cash gurus always thought Southern was an A-number one investment in this sector, but now the prices of Southern shares have popped up to reflect their goodness. So, it’s not a steal anymore. That being said, Barrons shifted their rating for Southern to Above Average from Buy.

In other cash and power hot spots on the web, Motley Fool is labeling National Grid a “cash king.” (They define their “cash king margin” as cash flow divided by sales, with that number topping 10 percent.) According to Motley Fool’s calculations, National Grid is at 13.2 percent (up a couple of percentage points from last year and up 10 from three years ago). American Electric Power (AEP) took second in their overview at 7.8 percent. Like National Grid, AEP showed “significant growth” from last year.

The other two utilities reviewed for potential “cash king” status by Motley Fool didn’t do quite as well as AEP and National Grid. Exelon came in at 0.8 percent, down over 10 percentage points from last year, and Duke Energy was in negative numbers, even more negative that last year’s but less negative than five years ago.

Investment website Seeking Alpha labeled utilities “boring,” but noted that they are a good buy since utilities represent a stable foundation for any investment portfolio. (In bad economic times, even investors look for less risk and less crazy. It may mean slower returns, but it’s not a rollercoaster ride that could end in one long drop.)

Seeking Alpha wasn’t looking for Motley Fool’s “cash king.” Instead, they examined the net profit margin. For those of us not watching our investments like hawks, a net profit margin is a formula figuring a company’s profit per dollar generated.

Looking at a net profit margin above that coveted 10 percent---like Motley Fool’s “cash king”---Seeking Alpha suggested ten good utility purchases that they labeled “cheap” but with “strong profitability.” These included DPL Incorporated, which sells electricity in West Central Ohio; Wisconsin Energy; CPFL Energy in Brazil; El Paso Electric; and Duke Energy, among others. (Editor’s note: If you’re interested in the power markets and distribution options in Brazil like CPFL Energy, check into the new DistribuTECH Brasil conference at this link.)

So, Duke didn’t make “cash king,” but it did get the thumbs up on net profit margin.

And, speaking of Duke and money, the Duke-Progress Energy merger that could make the combined company a monopoly of sorts in the Carolinas is still jumping regulatory hoops and hearings. The hearings were opened to the public this week with customers fearing high rates to support the combined entities' profits.

Duke and Progress, however, believe the merger is necessary to spread higher rates over a wider consumer base, since the companies see a whole lot of generation spending coming.

“In order to meet future demand for electricity, both companies will have to invest in new generation that will be more costly than the companies' current embedded costs," said Duke CEO Jim Rogers and Progress CEO Bill Johnson in a prepared statement at the hearing’s opening.

Over at the Wall Street Transcript, Ali Agha, managing director in the equity research department of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey gave some tidbits from the recent “Alternative Energy and Utilities Report.”

Agha recommends AES and AEP. Agha sees AES accelerating in 2011 through 2012 in the area of earnings growth. He stated that AES may hit $1.70 in earnings by 2015.

Agha likes AEP because it’s cheap. Like Barron’s once saw Southern, Agha views AEP as a sweet deal, trading below value.

Utilities remain sound business sense for many shell-shocked investors. And, according to the experts, some are still trading on the “cheap and sweet” deal level. As utilities---and the rest of the economy---continue to recover, the bargin prices may disappear, but the value won’t. It's hard to argue with an investment that brings you both comfort and profit.