With an almost certain increase in the Fed funds rate for this Wednesday, it is time to look ahead into the stocks that will outperform in a higher rate environment. These six stocks fit the bill and can offer investors both stable high yields and strong share price appreciation in the year to come. 

As the Fed gets closer to actually increasing the short-term rates it controls, concerns and fears are affecting investors that own the different types of higher-yield stocks. Investors worry that higher rates will lead to higher borrowing costs, which could affect the ability of companies to continue to pay dividends at the same rate. There is also a worry that as interest rates rise, other investment classes such as bonds or CDs will become more attractive, drawing money out of higher yielding stocks.

Utility stocks are one yield focused sector that should do better as rates increase. Here is a forecast from Barclays, originally published on the Seeking Alpha website:

The U.S. utilities sector is small, with about 90 publicly traded companies. It is also complicated with utility company returns greatly controlled by state and federal regulators. Because of these two factors, I like to recommend the use of packaged investment products to invest in this sector.

An exchange traded fund (ETF) generally provides the lowest cost way to invest in a basket of stocks from a specific market sector. Here are three utility ETFs that may fit the bill for your stock portfolio.