Avangrid, Inc.’s (NYSE:AGR) long-term capital investments and upcoming renewables projects are expected to boost earnings.
Let’s take a look at the factors that are working in favor of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) utility company.
Growth Projections
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings per share is pegged at $2.26 on $6.48-billion revenues. The bottom and the top line are expected to rise year over year, which indicates increase of 2.26% and 0.01%, respectively.
The consensus mark for 2020 earnings is pegged at $2.45 per share on revenues of $6.81 billion. While the bottom line suggests 8.55% increase, the top line calls for a 5.12% rise on a year-over-year basis.
Long-Term Growth & Price Performance
The company’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth is pegged at 7.50%.
In the past three years, shares of Avangrid have surged 21.3% compared with the industry’s growth of 13.8%.
Debt/Capital & Dividend Yield
The company’s current debt to capital ratio is pegged at 29%, lower than the industry’s 49.56% and Zacks S&P 500 composite’s 43.37%.
Currently, the company has a dividend yield of 3.40% compared with the industry’s 2.83% and Zacks S&P 500 composite’s 1.9%.
Infrastructural Investments
The company is a energy company with nearly $32 billion in assets and operations in 24 states. Its two primary businesses are Avangrid Networks and Avangrid Renewables. Through Networks it plans to invest approximately $7.99 billion to upgrade as well as expand electricity and natural gas transmission and distribution infrastructure from 2019 to 2023. Through Renewables it plans to invest nearly $4.0 billion in the said time line. In the first half of 2019, the company has spent nearly $1.4 billion in CapEx, which is 80% higher than the investment made in first-half 2018 levels.
Other Stocks to Consider
Other top-ranked stocks in the utility sector are IDACORP Inc (NYSE:IDA) , NRG Energy, Inc (NYSE:NRG) and The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) . NRG Energy sports a Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) while IDACORP and The AES Corporation hold a Zacks #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
IDACORP, NRG Energy and AES Corporation delivered average positive earnings surprise of 7.79%, 11.64% and 4.85%, respectively, in the last four quarters.
Long-term earnings growth for IDACORP, NRG Energy and AES Corporation is pegged at 3.85%, 36.26% and 8.49%, respectively.
5 Stocks Set to Double
Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth.
Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.
Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >>
The AES Corporation (AES): Free Stock Analysis Report
IDACORP, Inc. (IDA): Free Stock Analysis Report
Avangrid, Inc. (AGR): Free Stock Analysis Report
NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG): Free Stock Analysis Report
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