The Human Side of Utility Investments

Abstract

A FAVORITE PASTIME of some Wall Street students of public utility stocks has been the game of What Would Happen If . . . ? Many people have felt concerned about the outlook for general business, fearing we may be facing something in the way of a recession. Should this materialize, it would, of course, be translated into some drop in revenues of the utility co-mpanies because in a business setback no segment of the economy is entirely insulated. There have been discussions and studies of the public utility companies to determine how badly earning capacity might be affected by a drop in business activity. SDme analysts have been trying to devise measuring sticks to determine just what the impact on earnings might be. I am sorry to say that in some instances they have come up with rather dim views on the outlook for utility earnings in the situation described.