Ameren (AEE) to Report Q1 Earnings: What’s in the Offing?


Ameren Corporation


AEE

is slated to report first-quarter 2022 results on May 5, after the closing bell.

In the last-reported quarter, the company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 4.00%. Ameren has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 3.90%, on average.

Factors to Note

Ameren’s operational regions witnessed above-normal snowfall for the majority of the portion of the first quarter. Such weather conditions must have boosted electricity demand for heating among the company’s customers, thereby contributing significantly to its revenues in the to-be-reported quarter.

Moreover, the company witnessed several constructive regulatory and legislative outcomes in 2021, which in turn are likely to have boosted its quarterly top-line performance.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter revenues is pegged at $1.62 billion, suggesting growth of 3.4% from the year-ago quarter.

Higher electric retail sales buoyed by the steady recovery of the economy from the impacts of COVID-19 in recent times must have boosted the company’s earnings in the soon-to-be-reported quarter. Also, favorable returns from the company’s increased infrastructure investments across all its business segments must have bolstered its earnings.

However, Ameren’s service territory suffered from a significant winter storm as well as river flooding during the first quarter, which in turn might have caused outage for the company’s customers, apart from damaging the utility’s infrastructure. This in turn might have pushed up operating expenses for the company, in turn affecting AEE’s Q1 bottom-line performance to some extent.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for

f


irst-quarter earnings



is pegged at 96 cents per share, indicating growth of 5.5% from the prior-year reported figure.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Ameren this time around. The combination of a positive

Earnings ESP

and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. However, this is not the case here.


Earnings ESP

: The company’s Earnings ESP is 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our

Earnings ESP Filter

.


Zacks Rank

: Ameren currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Stocks to Consider

Here are three

Utilities

players you may want to consider, as these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this season:


BCE


BCE

has an Earnings ESP of +3.14% and a Zacks Rank #3. The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 4.5%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BCE’s first-quarter revenues and earnings is pegged at $4.60 billion and 64 per cents share, respectively. BCE has a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 5.94%.


Telephone and Data Systems


TDS

has an Earnings ESP of +34.62% and a Zacks Rank #3. You can see


the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here


.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Telephone and Data Systems’ first-quarter revenues and earnings is pegged at $1.34 billion and 26 cents, respectively. TDS has a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 42.61%.


Dominion Energy


D

has an Earnings ESP of +0.42% and a Zacks Rank #3. The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 6.1%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Dominion Energy’s first-quarter revenues and earnings is pegged at $4.28 billion and $1.19, respectively. D has a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 1.09%.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the

Zacks Earnings Calendar

.


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