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Reasons to Add New Jersey Resources (NJR) to Your Portfolio
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New Jersey Resources (NJR - Free Report) continues to benefit from its infrastructure upgrades that help serve the company’s expanding customer base more efficiently. Given its earnings growth opportunities and strong return on equity (ROE), NJR makes for a solid investment option in the utility sector.
Let us focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a strong investment pick at the moment.
Growth Projections & Surprise History
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2024 earnings per share (EPS) indicates 9.7% growth from fiscal 2023 reported earnings of $2.68.
New Jersey Resources delivered an average earnings surprise of 107.4% in the last four quarters.
Dividend Growth
NJR has been increasing the value of its shareholders by paying out dividends. Currently, its quarterly dividend is 42 cents per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.68 per share, up 7.7% from the previous figure of $1.56. The company’s current dividend yield is 3.76%, better than the industry’s 3.63%.
Return on Equity
ROE indicates how efficiently a company has been utilizing the funds to generate higher returns. Currently, New Jersey Resources’ ROE is 12.16%, higher than the industry’s average of 9.01%. This indicates that the company has been utilizing the funds more constructively than its peers in the utility gas distribution industry.
Systematic Investments & Customer Growth
New Jersey Resources makes consistent investments to upgrade and maintain its existing infrastructure. The idea is to provide reliable services to its customers around the clock. The company expects capital investments of $619-$754 million and $578-$742 million for fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025, respectively.
The company added 4,058 customers in the first six months of fiscal 2024 compared with 4,064 in the same period of fiscal 2023. It expects these customers to contribute $3.4 million of incremental utility gross margin on an annualized basis.
Price Performance
In the past month, shares of the company have risen 7% compared with the industry’s 4.1% growth.
ATO’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATO’s fiscal 2024 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 10.2%.
NFG’s long-term earnings growth rate is 3.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NFG’s fiscal 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 0.2%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UGI’s fiscal 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year rise of 2.8%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 19.1% in the last four quarters.
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Reasons to Add New Jersey Resources (NJR) to Your Portfolio
New Jersey Resources (NJR - Free Report) continues to benefit from its infrastructure upgrades that help serve the company’s expanding customer base more efficiently. Given its earnings growth opportunities and strong return on equity (ROE), NJR makes for a solid investment option in the utility sector.
Let us focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a strong investment pick at the moment.
Growth Projections & Surprise History
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2024 earnings per share (EPS) indicates 9.7% growth from fiscal 2023 reported earnings of $2.68.
New Jersey Resources delivered an average earnings surprise of 107.4% in the last four quarters.
Dividend Growth
NJR has been increasing the value of its shareholders by paying out dividends. Currently, its quarterly dividend is 42 cents per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $1.68 per share, up 7.7% from the previous figure of $1.56. The company’s current dividend yield is 3.76%, better than the industry’s 3.63%.
Return on Equity
ROE indicates how efficiently a company has been utilizing the funds to generate higher returns. Currently, New Jersey Resources’ ROE is 12.16%, higher than the industry’s average of 9.01%. This indicates that the company has been utilizing the funds more constructively than its peers in the utility gas distribution industry.
Systematic Investments & Customer Growth
New Jersey Resources makes consistent investments to upgrade and maintain its existing infrastructure. The idea is to provide reliable services to its customers around the clock. The company expects capital investments of $619-$754 million and $578-$742 million for fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025, respectively.
The company added 4,058 customers in the first six months of fiscal 2024 compared with 4,064 in the same period of fiscal 2023. It expects these customers to contribute $3.4 million of incremental utility gross margin on an annualized basis.
Price Performance
In the past month, shares of the company have risen 7% compared with the industry’s 4.1% growth.
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Other Stocks to Consider
A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are Atmos Energy (ATO - Free Report) , National Fuel Gas Company (NFG - Free Report) and UGI Corporation (UGI - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
ATO’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATO’s fiscal 2024 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 10.2%.
NFG’s long-term earnings growth rate is 3.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NFG’s fiscal 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 0.2%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UGI’s fiscal 2024 EPS indicates a year-over-year rise of 2.8%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 19.1% in the last four quarters.