Markets took a huge dive today as a variety of fears weighed on investor sentiment and triggered a big sell off. Tech stocks took a big beating as many high-fliers got severely cut down. Nasdaq is down almost 8% for the month–that is the worst it has performed during the fourth quarter since the Great Recession began back in 2008.

As the sell off spread today, companies heavily tied to the global economy were also battered. Investors are worried about global trade and the effects of the Trump Administration’s tariff wars with China and other nations. They are also worried about the Fed’s belt-tightening as the US Central Bank continues to clear its balance sheet of assets from the ZIRP days. In addition, the yield curve for bonds is sending a sell signal for equities as well.

So, is this a momentary glitch or something different? Do we have some momentary noise here or the beginning of the end for the Bull Market that started way back in March 2009? That’s tough to say. But investors today looked to the Utilities Sector for shelter from the storm. Those “un-sexy” companies are traditionally the sort of stocks for those worried about the future and unable to force themselves to buy on the dip.

For today’s edition of our bulletin, we used our website’s advanced screening functions to search for top utilities stocks with complete forecast and valuation data. They are presented by one-month forecast return. Our top five stocks from the sector are listed below. Vonage is rated STRONG BUY. The rest of our top-five utilities stocks are rated BUY.

Ticker

Company Name

Market Price

Valuation

Last 12-M Return

1-M Forecast Return

1-Yr Forecast Return

P/E Ratio

Industry Name

VG

VONAGE HOLDINGS

13.93

80.64%

66.63%

1.11%

13.33%

38.69

DIVERSIFIED COMM SERVICES

NWN

NORTHWEST NATRL

70.71

39.54%

9.20%

0.80%

9.55%

31.85

UTILITY-GAS DISTRIBUTION

SHEN

SHENANDOAH TELE

39.08

67.22%

0.59%

0.79%

9.51%

71.05

DIVERSIFIED COMM SERVICES

AWR

AMER STATES WTR

61.48

19.12%

18.34%

0.77%

9.24%

36.38

UTILITY-WATER SUPPLY

EE

EL PASO ELEC CO

59.42

46.45%

4.15%

0.74%

8.85%

31.49

UTILITY-ELECTRIC POWER

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