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Reasons to Add DTE Energy Stock to Your Portfolio Right Now

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DTE Energy Corp.’s (DTE - Free Report) disciplined capital spending program to maintain and upgrade the reliability of its electric utility systems boosts its performance. Given its growth prospects, DTE makes for a solid investment option in the Zacks Utility sector.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a strong investment pick at the moment.

Growth Projections & Surprise History of DTE
 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DTE Energy’s 2024 EPS has increased by 0.14% to $6.70 per share over the past 60 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DTE’s third-quarter of 2024 revenues is pegged at $3.02 billion, which implies a year-over-year increase of 4.6%.

The company’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 8.1%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 0.77% in the last four quarters.

DTE’s Return on Equity
 

Return on equity (ROE) indicates how efficiently a company has been utilizing funds to generate higher returns. Currently, DTE’s ROE is 12.18%, higher than the industry’s average of 10.42%. This indicates that the company has been utilizing funds more constructively than the electricity utility industry.

DTE’s Debt Position
 

Currently, DTE’s total debt to capital is 32.39%, much better than the industry’s average of 60.5%.

DTE’s times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the second quarter of 2024 was 2.8. The TIE ratio of more than 1 indicates that the company will be able to meet its interest payment obligations in the near term without any problems.

Dividend History of DTE
 

DTE Energy has been consistently increasing shareholder value by steadily paying dividends. Currently, the company’s quarterly dividend is $1.02 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $4.08. The company’s current dividend yield is 3.26%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite's average of 1.24%.

DTE’s Systematic Investments
 

Over the next five years, the company wants to invest $25 billion in total, which is an 8.7% increase over its previous five-year investment plan. Of this, the company’s subsidiary, DTE Electric, anticipates making capital investments totaling $20 billion.

Apart from its utility operations, DTE continues to make progress in its non-utility business, which provides diversity to its earnings stream. Profitable returns from such investments should enable DTE Energy to duly achieve its long-term operating earnings growth rate of 6-8%.

DTE Stock Price Performance
 

In the past three months, DTE stock has risen 13.4% compared with the industry’s average growth of 13%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider
 

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are IDACORP, Inc. (IDA - Free Report) , NiSource Inc. (NI - Free Report) and Entergy Corporation (ETR - Free Report) , each holding a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

IDA’s long-term earnings growth rate is 5.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IDACORP’s 2024 sales is pegged at $1.83 billion, which indicates a year-over-year improvement of 3.8%.  

NI’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 20.64% in the last four quarters.

ETR’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7.3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Entergy’s 2024 sales is pegged at $12.25 billion, which calls for a year-over-year improvement of 0.8%.


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NiSource, Inc (NI) - free report >>

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IDACORP, Inc. (IDA) - free report >>

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