What's In The Cards For Atlantic Power (AT) In Q3 Earnings?

Atlantic Power Corporation (TSX:AT) is scheduled to release third-quarter 2019 earnings on Oct 31. Notably, the company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 93.04% in the last four quarters.

Factors to Consider

Atlantic Power’s third-quarter earnings are likely to have benefited from the completion of the minority interest acquisition of two biomass plants. Moreover, the buyout of Allendale and Dorchester must have boosted the company’s liquidity in the third quarter.

The company’s focus on lowering debt is expected to have strengthened its balance sheet. However, intermittent wind and solar projects are likely to have increased grid cost and in turn, impacted the company’s third-quarter performance.

Q3 Expectations

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for third-quarter earnings per share is pegged at 5 cents, which calls for year-over-year increase of 266.67%.

What Our Quantitative Model Predicts

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Atlantic Power this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. But’s that’s is not the case here. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Earnings ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is 0.00%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Currently, Atlantic Power carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Stocks to Consider

Investors can consider the following players from the same industry that have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in the to-be-reported quarter.

Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) is slated to release third-quarter 2019 results on Nov 6. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.06% and a Zacks Rank #2.

Exelon Corporation (NASDAQ:EXC) is set to release third-quarter 2019 numbers on Oct 31. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.06% and carries a Zacks Rank #3.

PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) is scheduled to release third-quarter 2019 results on Nov 5. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.37% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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