Mike Philbrick iShares S&P/TSX Cap. Utilities XUT-T COMMENT Mar 25, 2020

Half the names are really solid. A steady dividend. No harm done recently so maybe a good place to be.

Although you get pretty good yields of around 4%, interest rates are moving higher, and yields are moving higher on the 5 year and 10 year, which is going to have an effect on utility companies. Utility companies generally are not good dividend growers. If they can grow their dividends, they are going to be affected from a capital appreciation/capital depreciation standpoint on their prices. He is not a big fan of utilities at this point.

An ETF for utilities. A great defensive sector with amazing performance lately. XUT-T is good, but 60% is in the top 4 holdings (inculding Fortis and Algonquin); 4% yield and 55 basis point cost. ZUT-T is more diversified and equal-weight. ZWU is also equal weight but does covered calls to create extra income, which sells future income for gains today; yields 6%. Given the strong performance of utilities in the past year, covered calls have lagged.

XUT is market cap, ZUT is equal weighted. ZUT gives you more exposure to smaller players. HOG gives you more pipeline and energy services business, which acts similarly to utilities. It also hedges you on the downside. Could be a compliment to the other utility ETFs.

Utilities are a very low-volatility sector, so the premiums are lower compared to oil/gas. He suggests holding both this and ZWU-T. Utilities are a top sector, because valuations are so reasonable (hard to find that in this market). ZWU will give you covered calls, but XUT will give you upside. So, own both, half and half.