If you feel like you’ve got whiplash from watching the news around the geopolitical conflict in the Middle East, you aren’t alone. News flow out of the region seems to change direction quickly, and so do energy prices. It is hard to know what will happen next in a market so emotionally driven.
If you are considering investing in the energy sector, you may want to broaden your scope beyond oil drillers. One option is to stay close to the energy sector with high-yield Enterprise Products Partners (EPD 3.10%), a business that isn’t really driven by commodity prices. Or, you could look to the future of energy with a reliable dividend-paying utility like NextEra Energy (NEE 1.02%). Here’s why each one could be a no-brainer buy right now.
Image source: Getty Images.
Enterprise sidesteps commodity risk
Enterprise Products Partners resides squarely in the oil and natural gas industry, helping to move these vital fuels around the world. It charges fees for the use of its energy infrastructure assets, including pipelines, storage, and transportation. It is one of the largest midstream businesses in North America, a region that has the added benefit of being nowhere near the Middle East. The volume of energy moving through Enterprises’ system is more important than its price.
In the first quarter of 2026, Enterprise saw record volumes across its business, from processing to storage. Simply put, the master limited partnership (MLP) is doing well right now, but not because of high oil prices. Moreover, the big story with Enterprise is really its lofty 5.5% distribution yield. It’s a boring income stock you can count on to keep paying year after year.
Enterprise Products Partners
Today’s Change
(-3.10%) $-1.23
Current Price
$38.40
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$86B
Day’s Range
$38.30 – $39.34
52wk Range
$30.01 – $40.16
Volume
4.2M
Avg Vol
4.5M
Gross Margin
13.45%
Dividend Yield
5.53%
The real benefit for long-term investors, however, is that the distribution keeps being increased. For 27 years, basically since Enterprise went public, it has increased its distribution. Adding to the safety of the distribution is an investment-grade-rated balance sheet and a distribution that is covered 1.7x by distributable cash flow. If you can’t stand the volatility of the energy sector today, Enterprise could be a smart, though boring, high-yield solution.
NextEra Energy takes you in a different direction
NextEra Energy isn’t involved in the oil and natural gas sector. It is one of the largest regulated utilities in the United States and also operates one of the largest solar- and wind-based contract power businesses in the world. It has just agreed to buy competitor Dominion Energy (D 0.58%), further increasing its scale and extending its geographic reach to include one of the largest data center markets in the world.
The key to the investment call here is that oil and natural gas are important, and will remain so for decades. But electricity is ascendant, with NextEra projecting that demand will grow by 60% between 2025 and 2045. That’s a step change from the 10% growth between 2005 and 2025. It is preparing for that growth by expanding its scale, and you can go along for the ride.
Today’s Change
(-1.02%) $-0.90
Current Price
$87.65
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$185B
Day’s Range
$87.53 – $89.50
52wk Range
$66.77 – $98.75
Volume
11.8M
Avg Vol
10.3M
Gross Margin
36.10%
Dividend Yield
2.62%
Along the way, you can collect an attractive 2.8% yield backed by a dividend that has been increased annually for more than 25 years. And the deal is expected to improve NextEra’s financial position while also being immediately accretive to earnings. Already the world’s largest utility, it could be smart to lean into this non-oil energy stock as it looks to take an even bigger share of the power grid.
It’s a no-brainer to look beyond oil
Emotions are hard to tame, and they are running high in the oil market right now. You don’t have to play that game if you buy Enterprise and NextEra Energy. One keeps you adjacent to the energy patch, the other takes you into the energy future. Both are smart alternatives if you want to step away from the dizzying ups and downs in the oil market.
