The Dow Jones Utility Average is up about 25% from its March low, roughly half the gain of the S&P 500. But year to date, the utility index is flat, versus the S&P's 15% rise. Stocks such as Southern Co. (SO), American Electric Power (AEP), Entergy (ETR) and Exelon (EXC) are down in 2009.

Dividends

On the other hand, my long-suffering utility plays -- I like Dominion Resources (D), Con Ed (ED) and, most important, Exelon (EXC) -- have finally caught a bid, and this implies that rates may indeed be topping out.

"I'm sticking with Dominion Resources (D); that's my favorite, along with Exelon (EXC)." "Mad Money Lightning Round," 6-10-09

From a recent Mad Money show:"I think everyone was expecting them to make more money, but now oil's come down. That's why I'm recommending Duke Energy . That's your play, it's a better business with a better dividend."

Chicago-based Exelon, down 36% in the past 12 months, is rated Outperform by Macquarie, which has a price target of $82 on the shares, some 47% above their current price of 54. The company sees earnings of $4 to $4.30 a share in 2009, about flat with 2008. That means the stock trades for about 13 times next year's earnings and yields a hefty 3.8%.

Three of the Dow utilities' 15 members -- Dominion Resources (D), Edison International (EIX) and Exelon (EXC) -- hiked their payouts. However, the pay dates for Dominion and Edison are in the current quarter.

Utilities
Alternates: AEE, DUK

3 Stocks I Saw on TV:
Dan Fitzpatrick examines three stocks viewed on Fast Money and Mad Money. Today's stocks include Vimpel, Apple and Exelon Corp.

Click here to watch the video.

Zach Karabell recommends nuclear energy which he thinks is starting to shrug off its negative image. He suggests playing it with, The Shaw Group [SGR], Exelon [EXC], or Entergy [ETR].

From Barron's 4/17/07

"Operators in regulated electricity markets probably will be allowed to recover the higher costs of uranium via higher rates for customers. But nuclear operators in competitive markets, like Exelon, Entergy, FPL Group (FPL) and Dominion Resources (D), will see higher fuel costs deplete profit margins."