There's no denying artificial intelligence (AI) stocks remain the market's hottest trade. But no portfolio should solely consist of AI stocks. Income-seeking investors, for instance, need interest-bearing bonds and dividend-paying stocks to provide reliable cash flow. And among the stocks that generate reliable income, energy and utilities names remain some of the best bets.
To this end, here are five of the top dividend prospects from these two sectors right now.
1. Chevron
Contrary to a common assumption, the world isn't abandoning crude oil. Indeed, Goldman Sachs believes the planet will continue using more and more of it all the way through 2040, and even then consumption of it will only gradually taper off after that.
Image source: Getty Images.
This is of course great news for oil giant Chevron (CVX +3.31%), which you can step into right now while its forward-looking dividend yield stands at just over 4%. That's based on a dividend, by the way, that's now been raised for 38 consecutive years.
2. Energy Transfer
Drilling and refining crude is only part of the story, of course. Getting it from point A to point B is another part of the picture, and an important one. That's what Energy Transfer (ET +0.19%) does. The company owns over 140,000 miles of oil and natural gas pipelines that essentially serve as a toll road for the industry. This toll of course generates steady, recurring revenue regardless of the price of gas or oil at the time. Energy Transfer's stock currently yields 7.4%.
3. Brookfield Renewable
Most renewable energy companies are ultimately growth investments. Not Brookfield Renewable (BEP 1.13%) though. This partnership owns several solar power projects, and even more wind power projects, with the ultimate intent of using them to generate dividend payments the way that more traditional utility companies do. Not only is its forward-looking yield of 5.1% one of the highest among comparable names, but the organization is targeting average annual growth of 12% to 15%, with plans to annually raise its dividend between 5% and 9%.
4. Dominion Energy
With nothing more than a passing glance, Dominion Energy (D +2.11%) looks like just another utility stock; this one sports a projected dividend yield of 4.4%.
NYSE: D
Key Data Points
There's a noteworthy nuance to this company though. It just so happens to serve the state of Virginia, where a bunch of data centers are popping up. In fact, it's already the world's single-biggest power provider to the business. While it's still not a high-growth name, assuming nothing changes with where companies want to establish AI data centers in the future, Dominion's certainly got plenty of opportunity ahead.
5. Essential Utilities
Last but not least, add Essential Utilities (WTRG +3.17%) to your list of high-yield stocks to drive passive income.
It's not an electric utility, but that doesn't make it any less important. See, Essential Utilities is a water utility, providing 4.7 million households with something they simply can't live without. Newcomers will be plugging into a dividend yield of right around 3.6%.
The path to $1,000
So how much would you need to invest in these stocks to produce $1,000 worth of passive income from them this year? With an average forward-looking dividend yield of 4.9%, a little over $20,000 spread out across all five of them would do the trick.
