FirstEnergy Unit To Install EV Charging Stations In Maryland

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) announced that its subsidiary — Potomac Edison — will start installing Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations in Maryland later in 2019. Recently, the project received approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission. This initiative is expected to reduce auto emissions and improve the state's environment.

Details of the Projects

The duration of the pilot program is estimated at five years. The company will install more than 50 charging stations that include nine fast charging stations.

Per THE BALTIMORE SUN, the state aims to reach the target of 300,000 zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. Increased number of EVs will require more charging stations. Thus, we can expect the pilot program to be beneficial for customers of Maryland State.

Along with fuel cost savings and providing cleaner environment, the charging station pilot program will offer rebates to residential and non-residential charger installations. Residential customers of Maryland will be eligible for rebates of up to $300 for the installation of EV charging stations at their home.

FirstEnergy’s Focus on Modernization

FirstEnergy is presently serving six million customers and focusing on a modernization drive to boost service reliability that ensures customer retention. As part of the ambitious “Energizing the Future” plan, FirstEnergy wants to upgrade and expand regulated transmission capabilities and plans to invest $4.8 billion in capital from 2018 to 2021.

Maryland's adoption of electric vehicles and expanding charging station network will propel the company toward modernization as well as enable it to make the environment cleaner and healthier.

Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy have rallied 33.2% in the past 12 months.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

FirstEnergy carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are Xcel Energy Inc (NASDAQ:XEL) , Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (TO:AQN) and NRG Energy, Inc (NYSE:NRG) . All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2.

Xcel Energy delivered average positive earnings surprise of 5.09% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings inched up 0.4% to $2.62 per share in the past 60 days.

Algonquin Power & Utilities pulled off average positive earnings surprise of 22.48% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings moved up 10% to 66 cents in the past 60 days.

NRG Energy came up with average positive earnings surprise of 1.90% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings rose 8.4% to $5.12 per share in the past 60 days.

Today's Best Stocks from Zacks

Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.

This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.

See their latest picks free >>