Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Here's Why You Should Add Entergy Stock to Your Portfolio Right Now

Read MoreHide Full Article

Entergy Corporation’s (ETR - Free Report) continuous capital investments to upgrade distribution and transmission are likely to strengthen its infrastructure, which would help enhance its performance. Given its growth opportunities, ETR makes for a solid investment option in the Utility sector.

Currently, the company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Let’s look at the factors that are driving the stock.

ETR’s Growth Projections

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ETR’s 2024 earnings per share (EPS) indicates year-over-year growth of 6.7%.

The consensus estimate for 2024 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 0.8%.

The company's long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is pinned at 7.3%.

ETR’s Dividend Yield

Entergy has been rewarding its shareholders with dividend payments at regular intervals. It has paid shareholders a cash dividend on its common stock continuously since 1988. The current dividend yield is 3.48%, which is better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s 1.24%.

ETR’s Return on Equity

Entergy’s current return on equity (ROE) is 10.1%, which is more than the sector’s average of 9.9%. ROE, a profitable measure, reflects how effectively a company is utilizing its shareholders’ funds in its operations to generate income.

Entergy’s Investments & Customer Additions

The company plans to invest $19.76 billion during the 2024-2026 period to upgrade its distribution and transmission as well as support renewable expansion. These investments should help deliver reliability and resiliency, improve customer experience, and provide environmental and cost-efficiency benefits.

Entergy’s regulated electric operations in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas generate a relatively stable and growing income. The company expects its cumulative weather-adjusted total retail growth to be around 6 TWh in 2024, which should gradually increase to 30 TWh by 2028. The addition of industrial customers is expected to be around 8-9% per annum till 2028.

ETR Stock’s Price Performance

Shares of Entergy have gained 23.4% in the past three months compared with the industry’s 13.3% growth.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

Other top-ranked stocks in the industry are TransAlta Corporation (TAC - Free Report) , DTE Energy Company (DTE - Free Report) and Natural Grid Transco (NGG - Free Report) . Each of these stocks currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.

TransAlta delivered an average earnings surprise of 97.99% in the trailing four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 EPS has increased 4.2% in the past 90 days.

DTE Energy delivered an average earnings surprise of 0.77% in the trailing four quarters. The consensus estimate for DTE’s 2024 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 17%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NGG’s 2025 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 6.2%. The consensus estimate for 2025 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 4.6%.

 

Published in