3 Utilities With A Decade's Double Digit Growth

For a company to be able to grow earnings and revenue at a double digit pace for 10 years straight is a testament to that firm's management capabilities. For it to happen in a regulated industry is a downright phenomenal accomplishment.

Yet, here they stand, three companies in the electricity and gas transmission business that have outperformed their peers by a longshot in nearly every long term growth metric going, and with shares that are the darlings of institutional investors because of it.

IN PICTURES: 20 Tools For Building Up Your Portfolio

Excellent Long-Term Growth Record
Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) has grown revenues at a 12.2% rate for the last 10 years and earnings per share (EPS) at a 10.25% clip over that same period. The company's shares now trade with a P/E of 10.7 and pay investors an annual 4.8% dividend. Exelon is in the business of electricity generation, sales and distribution in Illinois and natural gas distribution in Pennsylvania.

Over the last decade EXC shares are up better than 130%. That compares very favorably with the Utilities SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLU), which is up a mere 15% in the last ten years. Exelon is almost 65% institutionally owned.

Thank the Lucky Stars
Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:CEG) runs precisely the same business as Exelon, but has a focused retail customer base in the Baltimore, Maryland area. The company's 10-year EPS growth rate is a whopping 26.10% and its top line growth for the decade comes in at 15.04%.

Constellation pays a 2.6% annual dividend and trades at a multiple of just 1.65-times last year's earnings. A full 69% of the company's shares are held by professional investors.

For the decade, Constellation's shares advanced by just under 20%.

Trailed the Natural Gas Sector Last Year
Atmos Energy Corp. (NYSE:ATO) is a Texas-based natural gas supplier with operations covering 12 states. ATO yields a yearly 4.6% and trades with a P/E of 12.85. In the last year, the company's shares rose by more than 25%, a far worse performance than the broad natural gas sector as represented by the First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas ETF (NYSE:FCG), which is up more than 60% over the same period.

Atmos's growth rates for the last decade are an impressive lot, as well. Revenue growth registers 21.82% and EPS growth a robust 13.68%. The company is nearly 60% institutionally held.

The Bottom Line
Long term revenue and earnings numbers on these companies certainly caught the eye of mutual and pension fund managers. But value investors might also consider a closer look at the above names. Their fundamentals are equally compelling. (To learn more, check out Is Growth Always A Good Thing?)

Use the Investopedia Stock Simulator to trade the stocks mentioned in this stock analysis, risk free!