THE SEARCH FOR INCOME
Submitted by Total Clarity Wealth Management, Inc. on February 24th, 2021
February , 2021
THE SEARCH FOR INCOME
Jeffrey Buchbinder, CFA, Equity Strategist, LPL Financial
Lawrence Gillum, CFA, Fixed Income Strategist, LPL Financial
Interest rates have risen steadily over the past six months but remain low by historical standards. That means the traditional high-quality bonds that many of us owned for decades are not doing the job for investors looking for income, while the potential for interest rates have risen steadily in recent months brings more risk in the bond market than has been evident historically. Here we look at some income ideas that may help with these challenges.
When investors think about income, or yield, they would normally think bonds first. More on that below. Next they might think about getting extra yield from their stock portfolios, maybe with a dividend strategy that might be heavy on real estate investment trusts (REITs) and utilities. While we don’t have anything against using those types of strategies for a portion of a portfolio to get some yield, they can also carry unwanted interest rate sensitivity if rates rise. We highlight some equity income ideas that we would expect to perform well in a rising rate environment for you to consider when building your portfolio.
INCOME IDEA #1: ENERGY
The first idea is energy stocks. You may be surprised to learn that the energy sector currently yields about 5% based on dividends paid in 2020, topping all S&P 500 sectors [Figure 1]. In this month’s Global Portfolio Strategy report, we upgraded our view of the energy sector to neutral. Our increased optimism was driven primarily by three factors. First, as we get closer to a fully reopened economy and travel activity picks up—potentially in the second half of this year—energy is likely to be a big beneficiary. Second, our technical analysis work revealed attractive upside potential based on recent price appreciation after an extended period of weakness. Third, we see the sector as attractively valued, especially when considering the income potential.
