Alliant (LNT) Beats Q3 Earnings Estimates, Ups 2021 View
Alliant Energy Corporation LNT reported third-quarter 2021 operating earnings of $1.02, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 96 cents by 6.3%. Earnings also improved 8.5% from the year-ago figure.
Revenues
Third-quarter revenues came in at $1,024 million, improving 11.3% year over year. The year-over-year improvement was primarily due to strong contributions from its Electric and Gas operations.
Alliant Energy Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Alliant Energy Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Alliant Energy Corporation Quote
Operational Highlights
For the third quarter, the company’s retail electric and gas utility customers grew 0.7% and 0.5% year over year, respectively. Electric volumes improved 8.1% year over year due to strong power sales volume to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Gas volumes for the reported quarter improved 4.5% year over year due to an improvement in transportation sales volume.
Total operating expenses were $735 million for the reported quarter, increasing 13.4% from $648 million in the year-ago period. This was due to higher cost of electric transmission services, rise in the cost of gas sold, and increased production fuel and purchased power expenses.
Operating income was $289 million, up 6.3% from $272 million in the year-ago quarter.
Interest expenses were $68 million, on par with the prior-year quarter.
Financial Update
Cash and cash equivalents were $20 million as of Sep 30, 2021, down from $54 million on Dec 31, 2020.
Long-term debt (excluding current portion) was $6,692 million as of Sep 30, 2021, lower than $6,769 million on Dec 31, 2020.
For the first nine months of 2021, cash flow from operating activities was $477 million compared with $436 million in the year-ago period.
Guidance
Alliant raised its 2021 earnings guidance to the range of $2.61-$2.67 from $2.50-$2.64 per share. The guidance takes into account the company’s strong third-quarter performance.
It issued its 2022 earnings per share guidance in the range of $2.65-$2.79. The midpoint of the guidance is $2.72, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.75 for the period.
Alliant plans to invest $7 billion in the 2021-2025 time period to strengthen operations.
Zacks Rank
Currently, Alliant carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Other Releases
WEC Energy Group WEC recorded third-quarter 2021 earnings per share of 92 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 82 cents by 12.2%.
Avangrid, Inc. AGR reported third-quarter 2021 earnings of 34 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 30 cents by 13.3%.
DTE Energy Company DTE reported third-quarter 2021 operating EPS of $1.72, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.83 by 6%.
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