Each of These Giant Utilities Beat the Utility Average in October

The shares of U.S. utilities Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), Dominion Resources (NYSE: D), and Southern Company (NYSE: SO) rose 5.2%, 5.5%, and 6.2%, respectively, in October. That compares to a 3.9% advance in the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEMKT: XLU). Although on an absolute basis the outperformance seems modest, on a relative basis Duke, Dominion, and Southern each had a blowout month.

The thing is, there really wasn't much going on at this trio to warrant such a large relative price advance. Only Dominion reported earnings in October, for example, and even then only in the last few days of the month. (It was fairly boring reading, by the way, with earnings hitting roughly the midpoint of guidance.) Duke and Southern reported in early November. But the gains for all three were spread fairly evenly through the entire month.

Image source: Getty Images

Source: Fool.com