From June of 1990, American States Water has been an excellent investment by just about any metric you could identify. The California utility is perhaps one of the most understandable businesses in the world: it is a water utility. It sells a product that customers will die without. The dividend has been going up for 50+ years. Those are wonderful, wonderful, characteristic traits. Since 1990, every $5,000 invested into American States Water would have turned into $69,000, for a total return of 12.35% annually.

The product (water) is basic and stable, it is easy to understand, you keep getting more and more cash, and you even have built wealth in excess of the S&P 500 over that time frame, which is nice. If you have been a holder of the stock, or anticipate becoming a holder of the stock, I anticipate that American States Water will continue to be a … Read the rest of this article!