News

Consolidated Edison ED, with rising earnings estimates and strategic investments, offers a great investment opportunity in the utility sector.

Let’s focus on the reasons that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock a solid investment pick at the moment.

Growth Projections & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ED’s 2024 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 0.19% to $5.28 in the past 60 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ED’s total revenues for 2024 stands at $5.35 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 2.67%.

The company’s (three to five years) earnings growth is pegged at 2%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 6.13% in the last four quarters.

Return on Equity

Return on equity (ROE) indicates how efficiently a company has been utilizing its funds to generate higher returns. Currently, Consolidated Edison’s ROE is 8.6% compared to its industry average of 7.01%. This indicates that the company has been utilizing its funds more constructively than its peers in the industry.

Dividend History

Consolidated Edison has been increasing shareholders’ value through dividend payments. In October 2023, ED announced a quarterly dividend of 81 cents per share and an annual dividend of $3.24 per share. ED’s current dividend yield is 3.45%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s yield of 1.59%.

Systematic Capital Expenditure

The company continues to follow a systematic capital investment plan for infrastructure development and maintain the reliability of its electric, gas and steam delivery system. ED has a robust capital expenditure plan of $14.6 billion for the 2023-2025 period. In the next ten years, the company plans to invest $72 billion.

Solvency

Consolidated Edison’s times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the third quarter of 2023 was 3.9. The TIE ratio of more than 1 indicates that the company will be able to meet its interest payment obligations in the near term without any problems.

In the past month, ED shares have risen 2.5% compared to its industry’s average decline of 4.7%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks related to the same industry are NRG Energy NRG, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and NiSource NI and Avista AVA, each holding a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

NRG Energy’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 13.75%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS is pegged at $5.96, implying a year-over-year increase of 17.85%.

NiSource Energy’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 7.15%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS stands at $1.71, calling for a year-over-year increase of 7.17%.

Avista’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS is pegged at $2.43, indicating a year-over-year rise of 5.43%.

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