Public Service Enterprise (PEG) Q4 Earnings: What's In Store?

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE:PEG) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter and 2018 results on Feb 27, before the opening bell.

In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.26%. The bottom line also exceeded the consensus mark in three of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 1.82%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.

Factors at Play

Public Service Enterprise’s 2018 revenues are anticipated to increase by $53 million on completion of its Gas System Modernization Program I (GSMP I) and the Energy Strong Program. These programs might have contributed to the company’s fourth-quarter revenues as well, which should get reflected in the soon-to-be-reported results.

Moreover, Hurricane Michael caused heavy rainfall in the company’s service territories during the fourth quarter. This, in turn, can be expected to have favored its quarterly revenues.

In line with this, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Public Service Enterprise’s fourth-quarter revenues is pegged at $2.36 billion, mirroring year-over-year growth of 12.6%.

Meanwhile, steady investment in PSE&G transmission and distribution infrastructure is expected to boost the company’s fourth-quarter earnings. However, higher natural gas prices are expected to hurt the bottom line.

Currently, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fourth-quarter earnings stands at 55 cents, reflecting a 3.5% decline from the year-ago quarter’s figure.

Earnings Whisper

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Public Service Enterprise is likely to beat earnings in the fourth 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. And this is not the case here. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Earnings ESP: Public Service Enterprise has an Earnings ESP of -2.93%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Public Service Enterprise currently carries a Zacks Rank #3, which increases the possibility of an earnings beat. However, a negative Earnings ESP makes a surprise prediction difficult.

Conversely, 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.

Upcoming Utilities

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (NYSE:PCG) has a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Feb 28.

PNM Resources, Inc. (NYSE:PNM) carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Feb 27.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) carries a Zacks Rank #3. The company is slated to report fourth-quarter 2018 results on Feb 28.

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