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Ameren (AEE) to Report Q2 Earnings: What's in the Cards?

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Ameren Corporation (AEE - Free Report) is scheduled to release second-quarter 2024 results on Aug 1 after market close. This utility company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 10.09% in the last reported quarter.

The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 1.89% in the trailing four quarters. Let’s discuss the factors that are likely to have affected the upcoming quarterly results.

Factors to Consider

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

Strong customer growth, which bolstered retail sales at the Ameren Missouri subsidiary, is likely to have also added an impetus to AEE’s revenues.
 
However, some parts of its service areas witnessed severe rain and tornadoes, which are likely to have caused outages for some of AEE’s customers. This is likely to have adversely impacted the overall top-line performance to some extent.

The severe weather conditions are likely to have caused damage to some of AEE’s infrastructure, thereby pushing up its operating expenses for restoration. This, along with higher operating and maintenance expenses due to a charge for the proposed additional mitigation relief related to the Rush Island Energy Center New Source Review litigation, is expected to have adversely impacted the company’s earnings performance.

Nevertheless, solid sales growth expectations, cost-reduction initiatives and higher earnings at Ameren Transmission, due to the favorable timing of financing and project expenditures, are likely to have bolstered the company’s overall bottom-line performance.

Expectations

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AEE’s second-quarter revenues is $1.88 billion, which indicates an increase of 6.6% from the year-ago reported number.

The consensus estimate for earnings is pegged at 95 cents per share, which indicates an increase of 5.6% from the prior-year quarter’s comparable figure.

What Our Model Predicts

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for Ameren 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.

Ameren Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Ameren Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Ameren Corporation price-eps-surprise | Ameren Corporation Quote

Earnings ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is -2.12%. 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 2. You can see the complete list of Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

Stocks to Consider

Investors can consider the following players from the same industry, which have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their quarterly results.
 
The AES Corporation (AES - Free Report) is likely to report an earnings beat when it announces second-quarter results on Aug 1. It has an Earnings ESP of +10.20% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its second-quarter sales is pegged at $3.17 billion, which indicates a 4.7% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 57.1%.

Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL - Free Report) is likely to report an earnings beat when it announces second-quarter results on Aug 1. It has an Earnings ESP of +6.12% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its second-quarter sales is pegged at $3.23 billion, which indicates a 6.8% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings has increased 8.9% in the past 90 days.

The Southern Company (SO - Free Report) is likely to report an earnings beat when it announces second-quarter results on Aug 1. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.38% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its second-quarter sales is pegged at $6.27 billion, which indicates a 9.1% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus estimate for earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 15.2%.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

 

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