News

CMS Energy CMS is scheduled to release its first-quarter 2024 results on Apr 25 before market open. The company delivered an earnings surprise of 0.96% in the last reported quarter.

The company holds a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 3.14%. Let’s discuss the factors that are likely to be reflected in the upcoming quarterly results.

Factors at Play

In the first quarter, CMS Energy’s service areas witnessed mixed weather patterns. The majority of its service areas recorded cold temperatures accompanied by occasional snowfall during January, while warmer-than-normal temperatures prevailed during February and March. Hence, the overall impact of weather on its quarterly top-line performance is expected to be moderate.

CMS Energy Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

However, a few winter storms that brought hails and strong winds affected CMS’ service territories during the first quarter. This might have caused outages for some of the company’s customers, thereby partially impacting CMS’ overall revenues.

Nevertheless, favorable rate hikes witnessed in the recent past are likely to have contributed to the company’s overall revenues in the to-be-reported quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMS’ first-quarter sales stands at $2.40 billion, which suggests an increase of 4.9% from the year-ago reported number.

During the first quarter, solid revenue expectations and the implementation of various cost reduction initiatives by the company to reduce its operating and maintenance (O&M) expenses are likely to have boosted its overall earnings. However, expenses for restoration work in relation to the aforementioned winter storms might have pushed up CMS’ quarterly operating expenses, thereby adversely impacting its bottom-line performance to some extent.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMS Energy’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.05 per share, which implies an increase of 50% from the first-quarter 2023 reported figure.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for CMS this time. 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, which is not the case here, as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: CMS has an Earnings ESP of -11.70%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Currently, CMS carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell)

Stocks to Consider

Below we have mentioned the following players from the same industry that have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in the upcoming releases.

Entergy ETR is expected to report its first-quarter 2024 results on Apr 24 before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +5.71% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ETR’s first-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.40 per share, which suggests a 22.8% improvement from the first-quarter 2023 reported figure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter sales is pegged at $3.18 billion, which indicates a 6.5% increase from that reported in the prior-year quarter.

Exelon Corporation EXC is slated to report its first-quarter 2024 results on May 2 before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.41% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EXC’s first-quarter earnings stands at 71 cents per share, which suggests a 1.4% improvement from the first-quarter 2023 reported figure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter sales is pegged at $5.73 billion, which implies a 3% increase from that reported in the prior-year quarter.

PPL Corporation PPL is set to report first-quarter earnings on May 1. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.98% and carries a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PPL’s earnings is pegged at 51 cents per share, which calls for a 6.3% improvement from the first-quarter 2023 reported number. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter sales is pegged at $2.48 billion, which indicates a 2.6% increase from that reported in the prior-year quarter.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.