The AES Corporation’s AES third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of 71 cents per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 60 cents by 18.3%. The bottom line also improved 18.3% from 60 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.
The year-over-year improvement in adjusted earnings can be attributed to a lower adjusted tax rate and higher contributions from the renewable projects placed in service in 2024.
The company generated GAAP earnings of 72 cents per share compared with 32 cents in the third quarter of 2023.
This improvement was driven by higher contributions from renewable projects placed in service in 2024, prior-year unrealized foreign currency losses at the Energy Infrastructure SBU and lower long-lived asset impairments in 2024.
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AES’ Total Revenues
The company’s total revenues amounted to $3.29 billion, down 4.2% year over year due to lower non-regulated revenues. The figure also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.63 billion by 9.3%.
The AES Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
The AES Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | The AES Corporation Quote
Highlights of AES’ Release
The total cost of sales was $2.57 billion, up 2% year over year.
The operating income totaled $722 million, down 21.4% from $918 million in the year-ago period.
Interest expenses amounted to $379 million, up 16.3% from $326 million in the prior-year quarter.
During the third quarter, the company signed 2.2 gigawatts (GW) of new agreements, including 1.3 GW of renewables under long-term PPAs and 900 megawatts (MW) of new data center load growth at AES Ohio. This brought AES’ total backlog to 12.7 GW signed long-term PPAs, including 4.0 GW under construction.
Since AES’ second-quarter 2024earnings callin August 2024, it has completed the construction of 1.2 GW of solar, energy storage, wind and gas.
AES’ Financial Condition
AES had cash and cash equivalents of $1.92 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024 compared with $1.43 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023.
Non-recourse debt totaled $19.67 billion as of the same date, up from $18.48 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023.
During the first nine months of 2024, AES generated cash from operating activities worth $1.66 billion compared with the year-ago figure of $2.31 billion.
Total capital expenditure was $1.83 billion during the third quarter, down from $1.90 billion recorded a year ago.
AES’ 2024 Guidance
AES reaffirmed its 2024 earnings guidance. It still expects to generate adjusted earnings in the upper half of the range of $1.87-$1.97 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $1.91 per share.
The company reaffirmed its average annual earnings growth target to be in the band of 7-9% through 2027.
AES expects to add a total of 3.6 GW of renewables to its operating portfolio by end of 2024.
AES’ Zacks Rank
AES currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Recent Utility Releases
Edison International EIX reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.51 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.39 by 8.6%. The bottom line also increased 9.4% from $1.38 in the year-ago quarter.
EIX's operating revenues totaled $5.20 billion, which beat the consensus estimate of $4.76 billion by 9.4%. The top line also increased 10.6% from the year-ago quarter’s figure of $4.70 billion.
FirstEnergy FE reported third-quarter 2024 operating earnings of 85 cents per share, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 95 cents by 6.6%. The bottom line decreased 3.4% from the year-ago figure of 88 cents per share.
FE’s operating revenues totaled $3.73 billion, which missed the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion by 6.4%. The top line, however, increased 6.9% from $3.48 billion reported in the year-ago quarter.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. CNP reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of 31 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 36 cents by 13.9%. The bottom line also deteriorated 22.5% from the year-ago figure.
CNP’s revenues totaled $1.86 billion, which missed the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion by 1.2%. The top line was also 0.2% lower than the year-ago figure.
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