WMBWilliams Companies, Inc. (The)

Williams owns the Transco pipeline — the artery carrying a large share of the east coast's natural gas.

A toll-road model: the company charges a tariff for transport and storage rather than taking a share of the gas price. Capacity is contracted in advance, so revenue is predictable and largely indifferent to whether gas is expensive or cheap.

The asset's value is rising for a reason that appeared only recently: data centres and returning industrial production need electricity, and gas-fired plants increasingly supply it. Connecting new generation to the trunk line is a growth avenue that did not exist a few years ago.

The principal constraint is permitting: expanding a pipeline along a densely populated coast is nearly impossible, which both caps growth and protects the existing asset from competition. The company pays a high dividend, which is why the stock is held.