Check Out These Utility Stocks In The Stock Market Today
With the ongoing volatility in the stock market, investors may be considering safer sectors to rotate into. As such, the utility sector could be one of the sectors coming into the minds of investors during these turbulent times. After all, utility stocks comprise companies that provide us with our everyday needs such as water, gas, and electricity. And since these utilities see fairly constant demand regardless of how the economy is doing, they usually generate reliable earnings, allowing them to pay dividends. Therefore, utility stocks could make for a lower-risk sector for investors to shelter in.
Take Pinnacle West (NYSE: PNW) for instance, the utility holding company posted solid earnings that beat estimates on earnings and revenue. The company saw stronger-than-projected sales growth and recorded robust year-over-year customer growth. Elsewhere, investors could be watching Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK). Last week, the company managed to secure an offshore wind lease for Carolina Long Bay. Notably, the lease could support up to 1.6 gigawatts of potential offshore wind energy, which is enough to power nearly 375,000 homes. All things considered, are these top utility stocks worth watching in the stock market today?
Utility Stocks To Watch Right Now
- Essential Utilities Inc. (NYSE: WTRG)
- Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE)
- Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA)
- Waste Management Inc. (NYSE: WM)
Essential Utilities
Starting us off today is Essential Utilities or Essential for short. It is one of the largest publicly traded water, wastewater, and natural gas providers in the U.S. For a sense of its reach, the company serves approximately 5 million people across 10 states under the Aqua and Peoples brands. Furthermore, with over 130 years of experience in the industry, Essential also has a track record of regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and environmental stewardship. With WTRG stock moving sideways for most of the past year, could things be turning around soon?
Last week, the company posted strong results for its first quarter of 2022. For starters, revenues for the quarter were $699.3 million, up by 19.8% from the first quarter of 2021. According to Essential, additional revenues from rates and surcharges, customer growth, and volume from the regulated natural gas segment were the largest contributors to the growth in revenue. As for its profits, net income was reported to be $199.4 million compared to $183.7 million in the prior year. Accordingly, earnings per share were $0.76 for the quarter, an increase of 5.6% compared to $0.72 from the year prior. With Essential recording a solid quarter, is WTRG stock a buy?
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Sempra Energy
Another top utility stock to watch is Sempra. For the most part, it is a North American energy infrastructure company that focuses on electric and natural gas infrastructure. For a sense of scale, Sempra hires approximately 20,000 employees and serves more than 40 million consumers worldwide. Its operating companies include Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric to name a few. In the past six months, SRE stock has risen in value by nearly 30%.
On May 5, Sempra announced its first-quarter 2022 financials. The company posted total revenues of $3.82 billion, an increase of 17.2% year-over-year. For comparison, Sempra brought in $3.26 billion in the year before. In the same earnings report, Sempra updated its earnings guidance for the full year. Namely, it expects earnings per common share to range between $7.11 to $7.71 in 2022. Sempra also does not appear to be resting on its laurels. Earlier this week, its subsidiary Sempra Infrastructure entered into a heads of agreement for the sale of approximately 3 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of liquefied natural gas to the Polish Oil & Gas Company. Given all these, should you invest in SRE stock?
Ormat Technologies
Following that, we have Ormat, a company that mainly engages in delivering renewable power and energy solutions to its customers. The company’s expertise lies in providing energy solutions that come from geothermal power and recovered energy. Ormat is a geothermal industry leader that has supplied power-generating equipment for customers in over 30 countries. Apart from that, it also has expertise in energy storage solutions. Over the past year, ORA stock has risen in value by more than 15%
Earlier this month, the renewable energy company reported its earnings for the first quarter of the year. Jumping right in, Ormat generated revenues of $183.7 million, an increase of 10.4% year-over-year. The company owes this revenue growth to its Electricity segment performance as well as its strategic capacity additions. Next to that, its adjusted net income came in at $18.4 million, rising 20.8% year-over-year. Accordingly, diluted earnings per share were $0.33, growing 22.2%. The company also provided its guidance for the rest of the year. According to its earnings release, Ormat forecasts revenues to range between $710 million and $735 million. All in all, is ORA stock one to watch?
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Waste Management
Closing off our list today is Waste Management (WM). As its name suggests, the company is a leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. It provides services that range from collection and disposal to recycling and renewable energy generation. Impressively, its environmental services span nearly 21 million residential, industrial, and commercial customers. And with 26,000 collection and transfer vehicles, the company has the largest trucking fleet in the waste industry.
Last month, the company announced its financial results for the first quarter of the year. Starting with revenue, WM recorded a net revenue of $4.67 billion for the quarter, signaling an increase of 13.4% over the year prior. Next to that, its Collection and disposal yield returned 5.5% in the past quarter compared to 2.8% last year. As for the company’s profitability, reported net income was $513 million, up by 21.9% year-over-year. Accordingly, diluted earnings per share came in at $1.23, compared to $0.99 in the same period last year. “We had an excellent start to the year, as our first quarter results put us on a path to comfortably achieve our full-year guidance,” said Jim Fish, CEO of WM. As such, should you add WM stock to your watchlist?
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