Back to top

Image: Bigstock

4 Reasons to Add Otter Tail (OTTR) to Your Portfolio Now

Read MoreHide Full Article

Otter Tail Corporation (OTTR - Free Report) is a smart choice for investment right now, given its two-platform business model that consists of Electric and Manufacturing units. The company is enhancing shareholder value through its high-performing, low-cost electric utility as well as disciplined manufacturing companies.

Focused investment in cleaner sources of energy to produce electricity is expected to reduce carbon emissions from generation units by nearly 50% by 2025 from 2005 levels. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 and 2022 earnings has moved up 4.1% and 5.4%, respectively.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock a strong investment pick at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Systematic Investments

Otter Tail makes consistent investments to upgrade and maintain the existing infrastructure for providing 24x7 reliable services to the customer base. The company has plans to invest $762 million in the 2021-2025 time period in electric, manufacturing and plastics segments.

Nearly 21.4% of the planned expenditure for the electric segment will be utilized for clean energy resource additions to its portfolio, and another 21% will be utilized for adding and upgrading transmission and distribution lines. The ongoing investments and planned future spending will assist the company to make its systems clean and services affordable as well as reliable, along with develop innovative programs to assist customers.

Growth Projections & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 earnings per share and revenues is pegged at $2.55 and $915.6 million, respectively. The bottom- and top-line estimates suggest an increase of 8.9% and 2.9%, respectively, from the year-ago level.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings and revenues is pegged at $2.72 per share and $959 million, respectively. The bottom- and top-line estimates suggest a 6.9% and 4.7% increase, respectively, from the year-ago level.

Otter Tail’s trailing four-quarter earnings surprise is 16.8%, on average.

Return on Equity & Dividend Yield

Return on Equity (ROE) indicates how efficiently a company is utilizing shareholders’ funds to generate returns. At present, its ROE is 11.88%, higher than the industry average of 9.41%.

Currently, the company has a dividend yield of 3.26% compared with the industry’s 3.22%.

Debt Position

Its total debt to capital ratio is 41.29 compared with the industry average of 51.64. This indicates that the company is managing the business far more efficiently than peers in the same space.

Its times interest earned ratio at the end of first-quarter 2021 was 4.4, unchanged sequentially. The strong ratio indicates that the company will be able to meet debt obligations in the near future without any difficulties.

Price Performance

In the past three months, the stock has gained 13.8% compared with the industry’s rally of 10.8%.

Other Stocks to Consider

Other top-ranked stocks in the same space include CMS Energy Corporation (CMS - Free Report) , NewJersey Resources Corporation (NJR - Free Report) and UGI Corporation (UGI - Free Report) , each currently holding a Zacks Rank #2.

CMS Energy, NewJersey Resources and UGI Corp. delivered an average earnings surprise of 6.5%, 7.1% and 8%, respectively.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 earnings for CMS Energy has moved up 1% in the past 60 days. In the same time frame, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2021 earnings for NewJersey Resources and UGI Corp. has moved up 16.8% and 3.4%, respectively.

+1,500% Growth: One of 2021’s Most Exciting Investment Opportunities

In addition to the stocks you read about above, would you like to see Zacks’ top picks to capitalize on the Internet of Things (IoT)? It is one of the fastest-growing technologies in history, with an estimated 77 billion devices to be connected by 2025. That works out to 127 new devices per second.

Zacks has released a special report to help you capitalize on the Internet of Things’s exponential growth. It reveals 4 under-the-radar stocks that could be some of the most profitable holdings in your portfolio in 2021 and beyond.

Click here to download this report FREE >>

Published in