What's In The Cards For DTE Energy's (DTE) Q1 Earnings?

DTE Energy Corporation (NYSE:DTE) is set to report first-quarter 2019 results on Apr 24, before the market opens. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 1.09%.

In the trailing four quarters, the company came up with average positive earnings surprise of 11.23%.

Let's take a closer look at the factors influencing DTE Energy’s upcoming results.

Factors to Consider

DTE Energy’s service territories experienced below average and below-normal temperatures throughout the first quarter, subsequently witnessing cold winters with heavy snowfalls and snowstorms. This, in turn, is likely to result in higher household expenditure on heating, which may have a favorable impact on the company’s revenues in the to-be-reported quarter.

Furthermore, from the context of its non-utility businesses, DTE Energy completed the manufacturing of the Nexus Natural Gas Pipeline during the first quarter. Hence, updates on this development can be expected along with the first-quarter results.

Meanwhile, absence of tax benefits, courtesy of the U.S. Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, lowered DTE Energy’s earnings in the fourth quarter of 2018. In fact, the tax equity transactions for the company’s Reduced Emissions Fuel (REF) business is expected to further hit earnings growth. Considering these factors, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s first-quarter earnings pegged at $1.89 indicates a decline of 1.05% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that DTE Energy is likely to beat on earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both — a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) — for this to happen. This is not the case here, as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: DTE Energy has an Earnings ESP of -3.18%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Note that we caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell rated) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

DTE Energy Company Price and EPS Surprise

Stocks to Consider

Here are a few other players from the Utilities sector that have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Ameren Corp. (NYSE:AEE) has an Earnings ESP of +3.70% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is scheduled to report first-quarter results on May 9.

American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NYSE:AEP) has an Earnings ESP of +2.11% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is scheduled to release first-quarter results on Apr 25.

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) has an Earnings ESP of +2.64% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is scheduled to release first-quarter results on Apr 23.

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