5 Stocks Pushing The Utilities Sector Lower

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model

All three major indices are trading down today with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) trading down 23 points (-0.2%) at 13,146 as of Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, 11:50 AM ET. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,344 issues advancing vs. 1,517 declining with 152 unchanged.

The Utilities sector currently sits down 0.1% versus the S&P 500, which is down 0.3%. A company within the sector that fell today was CPFL Energy (CPL), up 1.8%. A company within the sector that increased today was Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras (EBR.B), up 2.4%.

TheStreet Ratings group would like to highlight 5 stocks pushing the sector lower today:

5. Northeast Utilities (NU) is one of the companies pushing the Utilities sector lower today. As of noon trading, Northeast Utilities is down $0.54 (-1.4%) to $38.80 on heavy volume Thus far, 1.3 million shares of Northeast Utilities exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1.4 million shares. The stock has ranged in price between $38.61-$39.26 after having opened the day at $39.04 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $39.34.

Northeast Utilities, a public utility holding company, provides energy delivery services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Northeast Utilities has a market cap of $12.5 billion and is part of the utilities industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 20.3, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 9.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday. Currently there are 9 analysts that rate Northeast Utilities a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 4 rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Northeast Utilities as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, good cash flow from operations and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had somewhat disappointing return on equity. Get the full Northeast Utilities Ratings Report now.

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