BKH

Black Hills is a regulated electric and natural-gas utility serving customers across several Western and Plains states — a classic defensive, income-oriented holding. FY2025 was solidly steady: revenue grew 9.0% to $2.29B, operating income and net income each rose 6.8% (net income to $292M), and the operating margin held at a healthy 23.5%. The dividend grew 8.6% to $198M, consistent with Black Hills' long record of dividend growth. The five-year net-income trend is reliably upward, from $237M (FY2021) to $292M (FY2025).

The trade-offs are the standard regulated-utility ones. Diluted EPS rose just 1.8% to $3.98 because the share count grew 5.4% to fund the capital program — capex of $820M (+10.2%) actually exceeded operating cash flow of $673M (-6.4%), meaning the utility is funding rate-base growth with a mix of new equity and debt. Long-term debt rose 10.6% to $4.70B, and return on equity is a modest 7.6%. This is the essence of the regulated model: dependable, low-volatility earnings and a growing dividend, but slow per-share compounding and continuous external financing needs.