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Entergy (ETR) to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Entergy Corporation (ETR - Free Report) is set to release fourth-quarter 2020 results on Feb 24, before the opening bell. In the last-reported quarter, the company delivered an earnings surprise of 0.83%.  

Entergy beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 9.13%.

Factors to Consider

In the October-December 2020 quarter, the majority of territories served by Entergy witnessed cold temperature, accompanied by moderate snowfall. This must have increased electricity usage for heating purposes, which is expected to have boosted the company’s fourth-quarter top line. 

Entergy Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Entergy Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Entergy Corporation price-eps-surprise | Entergy Corporation Quote

Moreover, positive effects of regulatory actions associated with the company’s customer-centric investments in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, are expected to drive its fourth-quarter results.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Entergy’s fourth-quarter revenues, pegged at $2.50 billion, indicates an improvement of 1.5% from the year-ago quarter.

A series of storm activities including Hurricane Eta affected Entergy’s service territories in the fourth quarter, causing widespread damage to its poles and electricity infrastructure, thereby causing notable outages.

This may have pushed up operational expenses of this utility provider, thereby hurting its quarterly bottom line. On the other hand, strong market performance of Entergy Wholesale Commodities’ (EWC) nuclear decommissioning trust funds are expected to have positively contributed to its total earnings performance.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Entergy’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 68 cents per share.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model doesn’t conclusively predict an earnings beat for Entergy this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat. But that’s not the case here.

Earnings ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is -3.68%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Entergy carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Stocks to Consider

Here are a handful of stocks from the Utilities sector that are yet to release their Q4 results and possess the right combination to deliver an earnings beat.

CenterPoint Energy (CNP - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +11.11% and holds a Zacks Rank #3.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +10.53% and carries a Zacks Rank #3.

American Electric Power (AEP - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +1.52% and carries a Zacks Rank #3.

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