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Evergy (EVRG) Beats Q3 Earnings Estimates, Narrows 2020 View

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Evergy, Inc. (EVRG - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2020 operating earnings of $1.73 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.65 by 4.8%. The reported earnings were up 10.2% year over year due to higher residential demand, and lower operation and maintenance expenses, courtesy of persistent cost management as well as fewer shares outstanding.  

GAAP earnings for the reported quarter were $1.60 compared with $1.56 in the year-ago period.

Total Revenues

Evergy’s total revenues came in at $1,517.6 million, reflecting a decline of 3.8% from the year-ago-quarter’s $1,577.6 million.

Evergy Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Evergy Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Evergy Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Evergy Inc. Quote

Highlights of the Release

Total operating expenses were $995.9 million, down 4.1% from the year-ago quarter’s $1,038.9 million owing to lower fuel and purchased power, along with operating and maintenance costs.

Interest expenses for the reported quarter were $94.8 million, up 4.4% from the year-ago level.

Evergy, through the Sustainability Transformation Plan, is likely to make capital investment of $8.9 billion in the 2020-2024 time period, and reduce operation as well as maintenance expenses by $330 million through 2024 by effective cost management. Through this plan, the company is targeting dividend growth to be in line with earnings growth, with a payout range of 60-70%.

Financial Update

Cash and cash equivalents as of Sep 30, 2020 were $361.6 million compared with $23.2 million at 2019-end.

Long-term debt as of Sep 30, 2020 was $9,276.4 million compared with $8,746.7 million at 2019-end.

Cash from operating activities for the first nine months of 2020 was $1,421.7 million compared with $1,447.3 million in the prior-year comparable period.

Guidance

Evergy narrowed its 2020 operating earnings per share guidance to the range of $2.95-$3.10 from the prior expectation of $2.90-$3.10.

Zacks Rank

Currently, Evergy has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Recent Releases

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2020 adjusted earnings of $2.66 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.65 by 0.4%.

Exelon Corporation’s (EXC - Free Report) third-quarter 2020 operating earnings of $1.04 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 87 cents by 19.5%.

Southern Company (SO - Free Report) reported third-quarter 2020 earnings per share of $1.22, marginally missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.24.

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