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CMS Energy (CMS) Stock Looks Promising: Should You Hold?

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CMS Energy Corporation (CMS - Free Report) , an electric and gas utility company, has a strong capital expenditure plan for providing smooth services, capacity maximization as well as conducting significant infrastructural upgrades. The company plans to invest $18 billion during 2017-2026, the majority of which will be directed toward infrastructure development projects.

Notably, these investment initiatives will empower the company to provide reliable services to customers and achieve the long-term EPS growth target of 6-8% in 2017.

Moreover, in these 10 years CMS Energy will also spend $6 billion to revamp circuits and substations by replacing aging poles and installing smart meters, under its electric utility operations. To upgrade its natural gas portfolio, the company will invest $8 billion during the same period.

Besides, realizing the potential for the expanding renewable energy market, CMS Energy has been expanding its renewable portfolio. In September 2017, the company submitted proposals at the Michigan Public Service Commission for amending its renewable energy plan, requesting approval for acquiring up to 525 MW of new wind projects and upto 100 MW of new solar generation projects.

Coming to its earnings performance, CMS Energy delivered positive earnings surprise in two of the last four quarters, with an average beat of 0.61%. Notably, the company’s Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings per share is 53 cents, reflecting a 15% improvement over the past 60 days.

These positives must have attributed to CMS Energy’s outperformance of its broader industry over a year. Evidently, the company’s shares have returned 25.7% compared with the industry’s rally of 17.3%.

 

However, CMS Energy’s P/E multiple stands at 25.59, close to its high range of 25.92 over a year. Moreover, the broader industry’s P/E multiple stands at 19.44, for the same time frame. This indicates that the company is relatively overvalued from a historic perspective as well as compared with its broader industry.

Moreover, CMS Energy’s businesses are sensitive to commodity prices. An upward movement in fuel prices could increase the company’s cost of operations.

Zacks Rank & Key Pick

CMS Energy currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the same space include Consolidated Edison Inc. (ED - Free Report) , DTE Energy Company (DTE - Free Report) and Atlantic Power Corporation . Each of these stocks carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Consolidated Edison surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the past four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 0.06%. The company has a solid long-term earnings growth rate of 21.7%.

DTE Energy surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the past four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 3.81%. The company flaunts a solid long-term earnings growth rate of 20.7%.

Atlantic Power surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the past four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 29.21%. The company’s 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate for loss narrowed by 5 cents in the last 30 days.

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