Back to top

Image: Bigstock

DTE Energy Gears Up to Report Q4 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

Read MoreHide Full Article

DTE Energy Company (DTE - Free Report) is scheduled to release fourth-quarter 2024 results on Feb. 13, before market open.

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

This utility company delivered an earnings surprise of 18.72% in the last reported quarter.

DTE delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 8.89%. Let’s discuss the factors that are likely to affect the upcoming quarterly results.

DTE Energy Company Price and EPS Surprise

DTE Energy Company Price and EPS Surprise

DTE Energy Company price-eps-surprise | DTE Energy Company Quote

Factors to Consider

DTE’s service territories experienced warmer-than-normal temperature patterns for the majority of the fourth quarter. This is likely to have hampered electricity demand from its customers for heating purposes this winter, which is expected to have hurt its quarterly revenues.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DTE’s fourth-quarter sales is pinned at $3.17 billion, which indicates a decline of 6.5% from the year-ago reported number.

Unimpressive sales performance is likely to have hurt the company’s earnings growth. Moreover, some parts of its service areas witnessed snowfall during some days of November and December, which might have caused damage to some of DTE’s infrastructure. This must have raised its operating expenses to restore infrastructure. This, along with higher rate base costs, is likely to have adversely impacted the overall bottom-line performance.

The consensus estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.50 per share, which implies a decline of 23.9% from the prior-year reported figure.

What Our Model Predicts

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for DTE Energy 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 -6.00%. 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. You can see the complete list of Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

Stocks to Consider

Investors may consider the following players from the same industry, which have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this reporting cycle.

CenterPoint Energy (CNP - Free Report) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 20, before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.63% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is pegged at $2.28 billion, which indicates a 4.6% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings is pinned at 40 cents per share, which indicates year-over-year growth of 25%.

PG&E Corporation (PCG - Free Report) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 13, before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.64% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is pegged at $7.25 billion, which indicates a 2.9% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings is pinned at 31 cents per share.

OGE Energy (OGE - Free Report) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Feb. 19, before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +2.41% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales is pegged at $672.5 million, which indicates an 18.7% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings is pinned at 48 cents per share, which indicates year-over-year growth of 100%. 
 

Published in