After spending much of the past six months at a middle-of-the-road three-star rank, FirstEnergy
With the proposed purchase of Allegheny Energy
Though the past few years have been tough on power producers, FirstEnergy generated a 30% jump in first-quarter earnings helped by an increase in sales to industrial customers and expects strong demand throughout 2010. A similar sentiment has been echoed by other utilities -- Southern Company
And things are looking good so far this summer. Due to higher temperatures across the nation, the Energy Department recently said electricity demand may climb 3.5% in the second half of the year from a year earlier, and the recent heat wave in the Northeast has pushed electricity demand to levels not seen since the summer of 2006. Consolidated Edison
Of course, no utility is worth its salt without a juicy dividend, and many CAPS members take heart in FirstEnergy's solid dividend payout. Similar to other utilities like Exelon's
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