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Here's Why You Should Add Unitil (UTL) to Your Portfolio Now
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Unitil Corporation (UTL - Free Report) is poised for growth, given planned investments over the next three years to strengthen the natural gas and distribution system network. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) utility is a promising bet at the moment, courtesy of consistent customer growth, focus on modernizing infrastructure and initiatives to increase its shareholders’ value.
Growth Projections: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings per share (EPS) is pegged at $2.32 on $455 million revenues. The bottom and top lines are expected to rise 4% and 2.5% year over year, respectively.
The consensus mark for 2020 earnings is pegged at $2.47 per share on revenues of $471 million. While the bottom line translates to a 6.47% increase, the top line suggests a 3.52% improvement on a year-over-year basis.
Its long-term (three to five years) earnings per share growth is expected to be 4.4%.
Impressive Price Performance: Shares of Unitil have rallied 15.2% in the past 12 months, outperforming the industry and the S&P 500 Index’s 11.2% and 3.1% growth, respectively.
Price Performance (One Year)
Upward Estimate Revisions & Surprise History: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for the current year and 2020 has been revised 0.9% and 0.8% upward, respectively, over the past 60 days.
The company delivered average positive earnings surprise of 215.05% in the trailing four quarters. Consistent Dividend: Unitil has been paying dividends for the past three decades and raising dividend annually over the past five years. Currently, its dividend yield of 2.53% is better than the S&P 500 composite's 1.97%.
Alliant Energy’s long-term earnings growth is projected at 5.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 EPS has moved up 0.5% in the past 90 days to $2.25.
IDACORP’s long-term earnings growth projection is 3.9%. The consensus mark for 2019 earnings has been revised upward by 0.2% in the past 90 days to $4.47.
NRG Energy’s long-term earnings growth is estimated to be 36.3%. The consensus mark for the bottom line for 2019 has been upwardly revised by 4.9% in the past 30 days to $4.04.
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This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
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Here's Why You Should Add Unitil (UTL) to Your Portfolio Now
Unitil Corporation (UTL - Free Report) is poised for growth, given planned investments over the next three years to strengthen the natural gas and distribution system network. This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) utility is a promising bet at the moment, courtesy of consistent customer growth, focus on modernizing infrastructure and initiatives to increase its shareholders’ value.
Growth Projections: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings per share (EPS) is pegged at $2.32 on $455 million revenues. The bottom and top lines are expected to rise 4% and 2.5% year over year, respectively.
The consensus mark for 2020 earnings is pegged at $2.47 per share on revenues of $471 million. While the bottom line translates to a 6.47% increase, the top line suggests a 3.52% improvement on a year-over-year basis.
Its long-term (three to five years) earnings per share growth is expected to be 4.4%.
Impressive Price Performance: Shares of Unitil have rallied 15.2% in the past 12 months, outperforming the industry and the S&P 500 Index’s 11.2% and 3.1% growth, respectively.
Price Performance (One Year)
Upward Estimate Revisions & Surprise History: The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for the current year and 2020 has been revised 0.9% and 0.8% upward, respectively, over the past 60 days.
The company delivered average positive earnings surprise of 215.05% in the trailing four quarters.
Consistent Dividend: Unitil has been paying dividends for the past three decades and raising dividend annually over the past five years. Currently, its dividend yield of 2.53% is better than the S&P 500 composite's 1.97%.
Other Stocks to Consider
Other top-ranked stocks from the same space include Alliant Energy Corporation (LNT - Free Report) , IDACORP Inc. (IDA - Free Report) and NRG Energy, Inc. (NRG - Free Report) . While Alliant Energy and IDACORP hold a Zacks Rank of 2, NRG Energy sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see tthe complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Alliant Energy’s long-term earnings growth is projected at 5.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 EPS has moved up 0.5% in the past 90 days to $2.25.
IDACORP’s long-term earnings growth projection is 3.9%. The consensus mark for 2019 earnings has been revised upward by 0.2% in the past 90 days to $4.47.
NRG Energy’s long-term earnings growth is estimated to be 36.3%. The consensus mark for the bottom line for 2019 has been upwardly revised by 4.9% in the past 30 days to $4.04.
Today's Best Stocks from Zacks
Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2018, while the S&P 500 gained +15.8%, five of our screens returned +38.0%, +61.3%, +61.6%, +68.1%, and +98.3%.
This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 – 2018, while the S&P averaged +4.8% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +56.2% per year.
See their latest picks free >>