Evergy (EVRG) Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Miss

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Evergy, Inc. (EVRG - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2020 operating earnings of 41 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny. The reported earnings were down 6.8% year over year due to unfavorable weather, which in turn reduced demand and lowered corporate-owned life insurance benefits.

GAAP earnings in the reported quarter were 31 cents compared with 39 cents in the year-ago period.

Total Revenues

Evergy’s total revenues came in at $1,117 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,191 million by 6.2%. The top line also declined 8.2% from the year-ago-quarter’s $1,217 million.

Highlights of the Release

Total operating expenses were $919.2 million, down 8.8% from the year-ago quarter’s $1,007.3 million owing to lower fuel and purchased power, along with operating and maintenance costs.

Interest expenses in the reported quarter were $96.2 million, up 5.6% from the year-ago level.

In 2019, Evergy repurchased 29 million shares. Since the inception of the repurchase program, the company has bought back 45 million shares under the 60-million share repurchase authorization. However, it did not repurchase any shares during the first quarter.

Financial Update

Cash and cash equivalents as of Mar 31, 2020 were $304.4 million compared with $23.2 million at 2019-end.

Long-term debt as of Mar 31, 2020 was $8,993.5 million compared with $8,746.7 million at 2019-end.

Cash from operating activities in first-quarter 2020 was $320.6 million compared with $362.1 million in the prior-year comparable period.

Zacks Rank

Currently, Evergy has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Recent Releases

Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL - Free Report) posted first-quarter 2020 operating earnings of 56 cents per share, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 59 cents by 5.1%.

FirstEnergy Corporation (FE - Free Report) came up with first-quarter 2020 operating earnings of 66 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 64 cents by 3.1%.

Dominion Energy Inc. (D - Free Report) reported first-quarter 2020 operating earnings of $1.09 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny.

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