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SCANA's (SCG) Q1 Earnings Miss Estimates, Decrease Y/Y

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Energy holding company SCANA Corp.’s first-quarter 2017 earnings of $1.19 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.37. The bottom line also deteriorated from the year-ago comparable quarter figure of $1.28 per share. Decrease in sales volume owing to higher than normal temperature was primarily responsible for the underperformance.

 

 

Quarterly operating revenues of $1,173 million remained almost flat with the year-ago comparable quarter.

Segment Performance

South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G): Quarterly earnings from this segment – SCANA's principal subsidiary – were 78 cents per share, down 3.7% from 81 cents in the year-ago quarter. Warmer weather primarily led to the downside.

PSNC Energy: This segment recorded profit of 30 cents per share during the first quarter compared with 25 cents in the prior-year quarter. The upside was driven by customer growth and improved gas margin.

SCANA Energy Marketing: The segment posted earnings of 11 cents per share compared with 17 cents per share in the year-ago comparable quarter. This was attributable to decreased gas margin due to decline in sales volumes.

Corporate and Other, Net: This business segment’s earnings remained almost unchanged on a year-over-year basis.

Expenses

During the first quarter, the company reported operating expenses of $857 million compared with $841 million in the prior-year quarter.

Guidance

SCANA reaffirmed its 2017 GAAP-adjusted weather-normalized earnings guidance in the range of $4.15–$4.35 per share. The company continues to expect average annual growth rate for adjusted earnings in the range of 4–6% over the next three to five years.  

Q1 Price Performances

The pricing chart reveals that the company’s shares underperformed the Zacks categorized Utility-Electric Power industry in the first three months of this year. During this period, the company’s shares lost 10.8%, while the broader industry increased 5.5%. 

Zacks Rank

SCANA currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked players from the energy sector include Antero Resources Corporation (AR - Free Report) , W&T Offshore Inc. (WTI - Free Report) and Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (DO - Free Report) . Antero Resources and Diamond Offshore sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while W&T Offshore carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).  You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Antero Resources beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters with an average positive surprise of 239.10%.

W&T Offshore had an average positive earnings surprise of 50.53% for the last four quarters.

Diamond Offshore surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the prior four quarters with an average positive earnings surprise of 353.3%.

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