Eversource Energy
ES
reported fourth-quarter 2020 operating earnings of 85 cents per share, which matched the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Further, the bottom line improved 11.8% year over year. The improvement in earnings was due to strong execution and contribution from the acquired he Columbia Gas assets.
Total Revenues
Fourth-quarter revenues of $2,233.9 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,226 million by 0.4%. Total revenues also improved 8.9% from the year-ago figure of $2,050.4 million.
Eversource Energy Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Eversource Energy price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart
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Eversource Energy Quote
Highlights of the Release
Operating expenses increased 10.2% year over year to $1,779.2 million. Operating income was up 4.4% from the prior-year quarter to $454.7 million. Interest expenses increased 1.3% to $135.4 million.
Net income in the quarter under review was $291.2 million, up 16.5% from $250 million recorded in the year-ago period.
Segmental Performance
Electric Distribution
: Earnings from this segment were $93.4 million, up 2.9% from the prior-year quarter. The upside was primarily attributed to higher revenues, partially offset by increased operation and maintenance costs due to high storm restoration cost.
Electric Transmission
: The segment’s earnings were up 2.2% year over year to $120.7 million. The upside was due to increased investment in Eversource’s transmission facilities.
Natural Gas Distribution
: This segment’s earnings soared 57.3% to $62.3 million. The year-over-year improvement was due to higher revenues in NSTAR Gas and Yankee Gas and also contribution from acquired assets of Columbia Gas of Massachusetts.
Water Distribution
: Earnings from this segment were $5.6 million, down from $8.5 million in the year-ago quarter.
Eversource Parent & Other Companies
: The segment’s earnings were $9.2 million against loss of $6.9 million in the year-ago quarter.
Guidance
Eversource provided 2021 earnings guidance in the range of $3.81-$3.93 per share. The midpoint of management’s earnings guidance is $3.87, which is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.90 for the year.
Eversource expects long-term earnings growth through 2025 from its core regulated utility segments to be in the range of 5-7%.
The company expects its capital expenditure for 2021 to be $3.5 billion. Its total capital expenditure for 2021-2025 time period is expected to be $17 billion, which will assist Eversource to achieve its carbon neutral target by 2030.
Zacks Rank
Eversource currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here
.
Other Releases
WEC Energy Group
WEC
reported fourth-quarter 2020 earnings per share of 76 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 74 cents by 2.7%.
Xcel Energy Inc.
XEL
posted fourth-quarter 2020 operating earnings of 54 cents per share, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.
Dominion Energy Inc
.
D
reported fourth-quarter 2020 operating earnings of 81 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.2%.
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