CenterPoint Energy Q3: Misses On Earnings, But Keeps 2024-2025 Growth Target Strong

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. CNP reported third-quarter sales of $1.856 billion, which missed the street view of $1.933 billion.

Adjusted EPS was $0.31, missing the consensus of $0.32. Adjusted EPS was $0.09 lower from the same period in 2023, owing to a $0.11 per share increase in operating and maintenance expenses linked to the first phase of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative.

Growth and regulatory recovery added $0.09 per share, but gains were offset by unfavorable usage ($0.02 per share) due to Hurricane Beryl outages and adverse weather variances ($0.04 per share) at Houston Electric, compared to third-quarter 2023.

Outlook: The company reaffirmed its 2024 adjusted EPS guidance of $1.61 – $1.63 (vs. street view of $1.62), reflecting 8% growth over 2023 at the midpoint.

CenterPoint also introduced 2025 adjusted EPS guidance of $1.74 – $1.76 (vs. consensus of $1.73), representing an 8% increase from the 2024 midpoint.

The company reiterated the company’s annual EPS growth target of 6% – 8% through 2030.

Jason Wells, President & CEO of CenterPoin said, “Our enhanced resiliency investment journey is well underway, and we’ve made tremendous progress over the last couple years in hardening our transmission system.”

“We’ve now turned our attention to increasing and accelerating investments in automation and self-healing technologies at the distribution system level which we believe will help us deliver on our goal for Houston Electric to build the most resilient coastal grid in the nation.”

Investors can gain exposure to the stock via Virtus Reaves Utilities ETF UTES and First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund FXU.

Price Action: CNP shares closed lower by 0.58% at $29.31 on Friday.

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