In this article I will describe some stocks that I believe have upside potential, and more importantly, very sizable dividends. These companies will not only enjoy market growth by increasing demand for energy nationwide, but will guarantee substantial gains from their dividends alone. I feel that these are generally long and medium term plays, as these companies could become much more popular with investors in the near future.

1) Exelon (EXC)
Exelon is the largest nuclear energy provider in the United States, and consists of PECO Utilities and ComEd, which generate its massive cash flow. This company's exposure to nuclear power gives investors a chance to reap the benefits of the post-Japanese earthquake selloff which is still depressing the price of uranium drastically. Exelon's selloff has not been fully corrected, however, and the savvy investor still has a chance to buy the stock at a P/E ratio of 10.5. In

It was has been over six months since I originally wrote about MDU Resources (MDU). As I pointed out at that time, this is not just a gas and electric utility. In addition to its utility services, MDU has operations in construction materials, heavy construction, construction services, regulated and non-regulated natural gas pipelines, natural gas storage and oil and gas exploration and production. Since the time of my original article, the share price is up over 17%. While this is impressive when compared to many other utilities, it has underperformed several peers in both the construction materials and contracting businesses as well as the oil and gas industry. Considering this underperformance, I think it would be wise for management to, at the very least, consider the prospect of a spin-off.

Over the last year we have seen other situations in the utility and oil and gas industries where management has

We recently downgraded our rating for Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de São Paulo, or SABESP (SBS) from Outperform to Neutral.

The company is a public water and sewage services provider in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. As of fiscal year 2010, the company distributed water to approximately 23.6 million people and provided sewage services to more than 20.2 million people.

At fourth quarter end, SABESP’s water and sewage connections were approximately 7.3 million and 5.7 million, respectively. The company aims at maintaining its water coverage ratio at 100%, besides improving its sewage ratio to 90% from 80% by 2018.

In the near term, the company benefits from the September 2010 tariff adjustment, a more relaxed monetary policy in Brazil. The Sao Paulo State Sanitation & Energy Regulatory Agency reduced the tariff readjustment index to 4.05% over water and sewage tariffs as of September 11, 2010, from 4.43%

There is a lot of speculation about a renaissance in the natural gas sector. Natural gas can be an excellent candidate to do the work that was once done by nuclear power. In the aftermath of Japan's nuclear disaster, demand for gas utilities might get quite high. Therefore, we decided to screen for the top eight gas utilities with substantial dividends, and a maximum P/E ratio of 20. All of the following companies offered a minimum 4% dividend yield in 2010. Data is derived from finviz . While there are hundreds of gas companies listed on the NYSE, only the following large cap gas utilities fit into this criteria:

AGL Resources Inc. ( AGL ) : As an energy services holding company, AGL is in the business of distributing natural gas in Tennessee, Florida, New Jersey, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia. The market capital of AGL is $3.13 billion and the P/E ratio is 13.3,

Essen, Germany-based Elster Group (ELT) is a world leader in Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and integrated metering and utilization solutions to the gas, electricity and water industries. The company’s products and solutions are used to accurately and reliably measure gas, electricity and water consumption as well as enable energy efficiency and conservation. Elster has operations in 38 countries.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, Elster had revenues of $476.8 million, up 5.9% year-over-year. GAAP earnings were $0.30 per ADS. For the full year, total revenues came in at $1,759.3 million.

The ADS started trading on

Several prominent investors have expressed their concerns about the Fed’s monetary policy and unsustainable budget deficits. Jim Rogers is extremely bearish about inflation. He thinks no matter what happens in the economy, it will lead to higher inflation, higher interest rates, and lower returns for long-term bond investors. Ray Dalio, the owner of World’s largest hedge fund, expects U.S. dollar inflation and he is bullish about emerging markets, commodities, and gold. Legendary investor Julian Robertson is in the same camp. He also expects commodities and China to perform well.

We like high dividend stocks and consider them as alternatives to 10-year Treasury bonds. High dividend stocks deliver higher current yields and usually increase dividend payments over 5-10 years. Like Jim Rogers and Ray Dalio, we are also concerned about the Fed’s inflationary monetary policy and want to protect ourselves against inflation. One of the ways of doing this without assuming

Particularly worrisome is GE’s undaunted espousal of stock buybacks despite compelling evidence of serious value destruction and limited impact on share count (details provided at end of article). In addition, similar to GE’s recent stock price, its dividend too has been on the rise. However, it remains well below its pre-crash level (on a per share basis). Let’s now turn our attention to GE’s annual meeting,

Radioactive substances leaking into the Japanese water supply has drawn attention to water in general. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Water, almost a billion people will not have enough water by the year 2050. This is causing investors to look at desalination, also referred to as desalinization and desalinisation, which could be one of the leading industries in the next decade, along with water purification. Some major companies, such as Siemens (SI) and General Electric (GE) have water desalination divisions that make up a small part of their businesses, but there are other companies which are more of a pure play in the industry.

According to the list of water purification and desalination stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are over 20 companies involved in the treatment of water, and a dozen paying yields above 1%.

Consolidated Water Co. Ltd (CWCO) is one

Domestic production supplies most of the natural gas consumption in the United States. Natural gas prices are changing rapidly due to changes in supply and demand. Starting with the end of 2008, there had been a significant decline in natural gas prices because of economic crisis and decline in natural gas consumption. In 2010 Natural Gas consumption in United States was 24,134 Billion Cubic Meters, an increase of 5.7% compared with a year ago. The annual average consumer price of Natural gas in 2010 was $11.19 per thousand cubic feet, a decrease of 7.8% compared with a year ago. For the near future, economic growth in the world can drive up natural gas demand and prices. The projections show that industrial natural gas demand will increase from 7.3 trillion cubic feet in 2009 to 9.4 trillion cubic feet in 2020.

We prepared a list of fifteen gas utility companies which

Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais (CIG), also known as CEMIG, is slated to release its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2010 results on Monday, March 28. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate for the fourth quarter is 32 cents, representing an annualized decline of 11.11%.

Third Quarter Highlights

CEMIG's third quarter results were disappointing as earnings per share of R$0.89 were below R$0.92 reported in the third quarter of 2009. Net income dipped 2.4% year over year to R$553.3 million ($314.4 million) due to higher operating and financial expenses. However, earnings per ADR were $0.51, above $0.49 in the third quarter of 2009 and the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.44 per ADR.

Net revenue jumped 6.5% year over year to R$3,183.2 million ($1,808.6 million) attributable to higher volumes sold. During the quarter

The following is a list of three top mid-cap gainers from Friday:

Here are some of the specifics about these stocks and what to expect from them going forward:

Longtop Financial

Longtop Financial was up 11.5% on Friday. Its management announced a change in the company’s HR structure and a $50 million stock buyback. These were viewed positively by the investors. Management announced that “at least” 80% of Longtop employees will now be directly contracted by Longtop subsidiaries, as opposed to third party staffing companies. Earlier ~86% of the company’s employees were contracted from third party staffing companies. According to bearish traders, LFT's margins were artificially high because of the cost shift to third party staffing companies. However, management has indicated in its press release that this change

The State of Hawaii is one of the most oil-dependent states in the nation. Hawaii currently relies on imported oil and other fossil fuels for most of its primary energy requirements. Energy in Hawaii was already among the most expensive in the nation and spiking oil prices have done little to relieve the people of Hawaii from this burden. There is a big push from local governments for energy independence and substantial progress in the amount of electricity supplied by renewable resources is being made. This is where Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HE) comes into the picture. As the supplier of 95% of Hawaii's power to the states population, HE is playing a large role in this transformation.

Hawaiian Electric Industries is in two primary industries. It engages in electric power generation through its Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) subsidiary and provides financial services through its American Saving Bank (ASB) subsidiary.

Opinion on Exelon (EXC) is mixed. On one hand are the bulls who point to Exelon’s world-class nuclear plant fleet, best in class efficiency, and shareholder friendly management, and they believe EXC is currently undervalued. On the other hand are the bears who point to Exelon’s $5.8B underfunded pension and post retirement plan, depressed wholesale power prices, and lackluster regulated utility segment, and they believe EXC may not represent the deal some think it is. Our opinion is that Exelon’s excellent assets and long-term earnings power far outweigh its liabilities.

Business Units

Exelon’s business is divided into three segments: power generation and its two regulated utility businesses ComEd and PECO. Power generation accounted for $1,972M or 75% of Exelon’s net income while the regulated utility segment accounted for 25% in 2010. ComEd contributed $337M in net earnings while PECO contributed $324M.

Power Generation

Exelon owns eleven nuclear plants with a

Brazilian stocks have been not performed well in recent months. The Bovespa is down 3.5% so far this year compared to a rise of 1.7% for the S&P 500. However Brazil’s economy continues to grow, though at a lower pace than last year. The economy is projected to grow by 5.5% this year. Currently plenty of opportunities abound at attractive prices for long-term and yield-hungry investors. Those looking to gain some exposure to Brazilian equities can consider the fast-growing electric utility sector as this sector benefits strongly from economic growth.

Brazil has the third largest electricity sector in the western hemisphere after the U.S. and Canada. The majority of electricity generated in Brazil comes from hydro-power and the country is a net exporter of electricity. Despite privatization efforts launched in 1996, the bulk of the electricity sector remains under the control of the government. Eletrobras, the state-owned power company is

Exelon (EXC) is a merchant electricity generator powerhouse. The problem for investors lie in the fact the company is virtually all nuclear. Exelon’s business is split between merchant power (75% of operating earnings) and regulated electric utilities ComEd and PECO (25% of operating earnings). Review these statistics:

• EXC operates the largest fleet of nuclear power plants in the US with nineteen, eleven of which are in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
• EXC generates 17% of all nuclear power supplied in the U.S.
• EXC generates 10% of total power in the 14 state Mid-Atlantic region.
• EXC generates 4% of total US electric generating capacity, inclusive of all fuel types.

There are four issues facing investors: the current crisis in Japan and potential impact on the nuclear industry in the U.S.; more stringent EPA regulations for competitive fuel emissions; market pricing; earnings visibility. These topics are as controversial as they are complex and