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Reasons to Add Eversource Energy (ES) to Your Portfolio Now

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Eversource Energy’s (ES - Free Report) ongoing systematic investments in transmission and distribution networks, acquisitions and the expansion of renewable operations, along with stable financial conditions, will drive its performance in the long run.

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.

Growth Projection & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings per share (EPS) suggests 6.5% year-over-year growth to $4.11. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings suggests 7% year-over-year growth to $4.40 per share.

Eversource Energy’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth is projected at 6.3%.

ES delivered an average earnings surprise of 1% in the last four quarters.

Dividend

The company has a long history of dividend payments and has paid dividends to shareholders consecutively since 1966. The strong performance of ES enables it to reward shareholders through dividend hikes. The 2022 annual dividend rate is $2.55, which is 43.3% higher than $1.78 paid in 2016. Currently, Eversource Energy’s dividend yield is 3.1%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s average of 1.9%.

Stable Investments

Eversource Energy is currently focusing on upgrading electric distribution and transmission infrastructure. It forecasts capital investments of $18.1 billion within the 2022-2026 period. Of the total, ES plans to invest nearly $11.6 billion in the electric and natural distribution network and $4.6 billion in the electric transmission segment in the same period. Eversource Energy has diversified its operations in the water business. It plans to make investments of $0.9 billion from 2022 to 2026 in the water distribution business to further strengthen operations and serve the expanding customer base more efficiently.

Expanding Operations in Water Industry

Given the impressive prospects of the water industry, the company is trying to expand the water business through inorganic ways. In March 2022, ES’ unit, Aquarion Company, entered into an agreement to acquire The Torrington Water Company (TWC) in Connecticut. This acquisition will boost further expand the water distribution business and boost revenue generation.

Price Performance

In the past three months, shares of Eversource Energy have declined 1.6%, narrower than the industry’s decline of 3.9%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other stocks from the same industry carrying a Zacks Rank #2 include The AES Corporation (AES - Free Report) , Centrais Eltricas Brasileiras (EBR - Free Report) and Alliant Energy Corporation (LNT - Free Report) .

The long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate of AES, Centrais Eltricas Brasileiras and Alliant Energy is projected at 8.3%, 20.9% and 6.2%, respectively.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 EPS of AES, Centrais Eltricas Brasileiras and Alliant Energy implies an increase of 5.9%, 1.2% and 6.5%, respectively, year over year.

AES, EBR and LNT delivered average earnings surprises of 4.2%, 10% and 5.8%, respectively, in the last four quarters.

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