Edison International (EIX) Q3 Earnings: What's In The Cards?

Electric utility provider, Edison International (NYSE:EIX) is scheduled to report third-quarter 2017 earnings results on Oct 30, after the closing bell.

Last quarter, the company delivered an earnings surprise of 0.00%. The company has surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters, with an average surprise of 6.44%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up at the company prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

Edison International’s service territories witnessed warmer-than-normal temperatures during the third quarter. This, in turn, is likely to increase the energy consumption and boost the company’s top line.

However, Edison International’s operations are subject to federal, state and local legislative requirements and other extensive environmental regulations. Markedly, its earnings are significantly dependent on approvals from regulatory bodies and any adverse ruling could impact performance. Once the company releases its result, more updates on these attributes will be available.

For the to-be-reported quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings reflects 3.46% growth year over year.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not show that Edison International is likely to beat estimates this quarter. That 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. But that is not the case here, as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Edison International has an Earnings ESP of -0.05%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Edison International’s Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the company’s negative ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

Conversely, we caution against Sell-rated stocks (#4 or 5) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions.

Stocks that Warrant a Look

Here are a few utility stocks which have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

NiSource, Inc. (NYSE:NI) will report third-quarter results on Nov 1. The company has an Earnings ESP of +7.69% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

El Paso Electric Company (NYSE:EE) has an Earnings ESP of +12.99% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Nov 1.

Avista Corporation (NYSE:AVA) has an Earnings ESP of +17.24% and a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to release third-quarter results on Nov 1.

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