Northeast Utilities (NU): Today's Featured Utilities Winner

Editor's Note: Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of TheStreet, Inc. or any of its contributors including Jim Cramer or Stephanie Link.

Northeast Utilities ( NU) pushed the Utilities sector higher today making it today's featured utilities winner. The sector as a whole closed the day up 0.8%. By the end of trading, Northeast Utilities rose $0.41 (1.0%) to $41.37 on heavy volume. Throughout the day, 3,028,884 shares of Northeast Utilities exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1,450,900 shares. The stock ranged in a price between $40.86-$41.53 after having opened the day at $40.92 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $40.96. Other companies within the Utilities sector that increased today were: UNS Energy ( UNS), up 30.1%, Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora No ( EDN), up 4.4%, Cadiz ( CDZI), up 4.1% and NorthWestern Corporation ( NWE), up 3.0%.

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Northeast Utilities, a public utility company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the energy delivery business. It operates in four segments: Electric Distribution, Electric Transmission, Natural Gas Distribution, and Other. Northeast Utilities has a market cap of $12.9 billion and is part of the utilities industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 16.4, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 4.8% year to date as of the close of trading on Wednesday. Currently there are 9 analysts that rate Northeast Utilities a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 3 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 revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, increase in net income, notable return on equity and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

You can view the full Northeast Utilities Ratings Report.

On the negative front, U.S. Geothermal ( HTM), down 6.4%, Southcross Energy Partners ( SXE), down 3.6%, AES ( AES), down 3.3% and Just Energy Group ( JE), down 2.4%.

Use our utilities section to find sector-relevant news.
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For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the utilities sector could consider Utilities Select Sector SPDR ( XLU) while those bearish on the utilities sector could consider ProShares UltraShort Utilities ( SDP).