Q4 earnings and guidance updates are now all in for EIA Actively Managed Portfolio and High Yield Energy List companies. As we pointed out in the February 20 Alert “Q4 Verdict: Our Midstream Distributions are Safe and Worth Buying,” investors in general have handed out little or no reward when companies reported good news.

Conversely, they’ve severely punished companies that posted disappointing news, though as coronavirus fears have spread the selling has extended even to companies that beat guidance as well.

The result is it’s hard to draw any conclusions from current market action about where real risk lies in the energy sector. That’s especially true when the question is dividend safety. Neither are hostile capital markets nearly as much a threat to companies’ growth and sustainability as they were in 2015-16, as companies increasingly self-finance scaled back CAPEX plans.