Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Reasons to Add AVANGRID (AGR) Stock to Your Portfolio Now

Read MoreHide Full Article

AVANGRID, Inc.’s (AGR - Free Report) long-term capital investments, expanding wind and solar generation portfolios in the United States and efficient debt management are likely to drive its performance.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock a strong investment pick at the moment. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Growth Projection & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AVANGRID’s 2022 earnings has moved up by 2.3% in the past 60 days to $2.26 per share.

AGR’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth is projected at 6.1%.

The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 3.6% in the last four quarters.

Infrastructural Investments

AVANGRID is consistently making significant investments to maintain and upgrade infrastructure and facilities, and the company plans to invest $1.9 billion in 2022 to provide customers with a safe and reliable infrastructure and support the clean energy transition. It aims to invest $20 billion through 2025. AVANGRID makes regulated and contracted investments, which guarantee earnings and cash flows.

Renewable Generation

AVANGRID has operations in 24 states, with nearly 70 solar and wind facilities. AVANGRID Renewables has started the onshore construction of the Vineyard Wind I project, an 800-megawatt (MW) utility-scale offshore wind project, which is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million tons per year. In the second quarter, AGR has begun the energization of the 194 MW Lundhill solar project and is expected to reach the commercial operation date in the third quarter. These initiatives will increase the production of onshore and offshore renewable energy, assisting in achieving the Scope 1 carbon neutrality target by 2035.

Debt Position

The Debt to Capital of AVANGRID at the end of the first quarter of 2022 was 29.4% compared with the industry average of 58.4%. This indicates that the company is using comparatively lower debts to manage the business compared with peers.

AVANGRID’s times interest earned ratio at the end of the first quarter improved to 3.8 from 3.2 in the last reported quarter. A strong ratio indicates that the utility will be able to meet debt obligations in the near future without any difficulties.

Dividend

AVANGRID has been paying dividends consistently since 2016. AGR’s quarterly dividend stands at 44 cents per share, bringing the annual dividend to $1.76 per share. Currently, the company’s dividend yield is 3.8%, better than the industry average of 3.3%.

Price Performance

In the past month, shares of AVANGRID have declined 0.7%, narrower than the industry’s decline of 10.4%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other similar-ranked stocks from the same industry include American Electric Power (AEP - Free Report) , Eversource Energy (ES - Free Report) and WEC Energy Group (WEC - Free Report) .

The long-term earnings growth of American Electric Power, Eversource Energy and WEC Energy Group is projected at 6.2%, 6.2% and 6.1%, respectively.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 earnings per share of American Electric Power, Eversource Energy and WEC Energy Group has moved up 5.3%, 6.7% and 6.3%, respectively, year over year.

AEP, ES and WEC delivered an average earnings surprise of 2.4%, 0.1% and 8.6%, respectively, in the last four quarters.

Published in