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Sempra Energy is Set to Report Q3 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Sempra Energy (SRE - Free Report) is scheduled to release third-quarter 2024 results on Nov. 6, before market open.

See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.

This utility company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 3.26% in the last reported quarter.

The company’s trailing four-quarter earnings surprise is 0.73%, on average.

Let’s discuss the factors that are likely to affect the upcoming quarterly results.

Factors to Consider Ahead of SRE’s Results

SRE’s service territories experienced above-normal temperature patterns for the majority of the third quarter. This is likely to have boosted electricity demand from its customers for cooling purposes this summer, which is expected to have contributed favorably to its quarterly revenues.

Sempra Energy Price and EPS Surprise

Sempra Energy Price and EPS Surprise

Sempra Energy price-eps-surprise | Sempra Energy Quote

However, a series of heatwaves caused some notable wildfires, like the Thompson and Park fires, during the months of July and August in California, which are likely to have caused outages for some of SRE’s customers. Such outages are expected to have partially hurt the overall top-line performance.

Nevertheless, soaring electricity demand from Texas and California backed by increasing infrastructure investments, favorable outcomes from prior general rate cases and surging natural gas demand are likely to have boosted SRE’s third-quarter revenues.
 
Solid revenue expectations and attractive returns from earlier invested capital are expected to have contributed favorably to SRE’s earnings.

However, from the cost perspective, the aforementioned wildfires are expected to have caused infrastructural damage for Sempra Energy, thereby increasing its operation and maintenance expenses to repair the damage. Increased maintenance expenses, along with higher interest expenses and lower income tax benefits, are likely to have negatively impacted the company’s bottom-line performance.

SRE’s Q3 Expectation

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SRE’s sales is pegged at $3.83 billion, which indicates year-over-year growth of 14.9%.

The consensus estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.06 per share, which indicates year-over-year decline of 1.9%.

What Our Model Predicts for SRE

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for SRE this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here as seen below.

Earnings ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is -2.06%. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3.

Stocks to Consider

Here are three players from the same sector that have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in their upcoming releases.

ONE Gas (OGS - Free Report) is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on Nov. 4, after market close. It has an Earnings ESP of +7.32% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. You can see the complete list of Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is pegged at $363.4 million, which indicates 8.2% growth from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings is pinned at 41 cents per share.

PG&E Corporation (PCG - Free Report) is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on Nov. 7, before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +6.35% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is pegged at $6.67 billion, which indicates a 13.3% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings is pinned at 32 cents per share, which indicates year-over-year growth of 33.3%.

Pampa Energia (PAM - Free Report) is scheduled to report its third-quarter results on Nov. 6, after market close. It has an Earnings ESP of +18.36% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is pegged at $546.1 million, which indicates a 15.2% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings is pinned at $1.83 per share.

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