Yahoo Finance Spire (SR) Up 4.6% on Q4 Revenues Beat, Earnings Miss
Spire Inc. SR reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2022 loss of 66 cents per share, wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 64 cents. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported a loss per share of 32 cents. The wider loss compared with the prior-year period was due to wider seasonal losses at the Gas Utility segment of the company.
Revenues
Total revenues came in at $314 million, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $281 million by 11.8%. The top line also improved by 8.3% from $290 million in the year-ago quarter.
Courtesy of the better-than-expected top-line performance of Spire, the market reacted positively and the company’s shares gained 4.6% post fourth-quarter earnings release.
Spire Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Spire Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Spire Inc. Quote
Highlights of the Release
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, operating expenses of $284.4 million increased by 7.9% from the prior-year period’s $263.5 million due to an increase in natural gas purchased expenses.
The operating income was $29.8 million, up 11.6% from $26.7 million in the prior-year quarter.
Net interest expenses increased nearly 22% year-over-year to $34.4 million for the reported quarter.
Spire’s management has approved a 5.1% increase in the quarterly dividend rate to 72 cents per share. The dividend yield of the company is 3.9%, better than the industry average of 2.9%.
Financial Highlights
Cash and cash equivalents as of Sep 30, 2022 were $6.5 million compared with $4.3 million on Sep 31, 2021.
The long-term debt (less current portion) as of Sep 30, 2022 was $2,958.5 million compared with $2,939.1 million on Sep 31, 2021.
Spire’s net cash provided by operating activities for the fiscal 2022 was $55 million compared with the $249.8 million recorded in the year-ago period.
Guidance
Spire expects net economic earnings (NEE) per share to grow 5-7% over the long-term.
Spire updated and expanded its 10-year capital investment plan through fiscal 2032 to be $7 billion, and the planned investment is expected to drive annual rate base growth of 7%-8%. The capital expenditure for fiscal 2023 is now expected at $700 million, including $150 million for our midstream businesses, primarily for the Spire Storage expansion.
Zacks Rank
Spire currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Other Releases
Sempra Energy’s SRE third-quarter 2022 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.97, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.79 by 10.1%.
The long-term (three- to five-year) earnings growth of SRE is currently pegged at 5.71%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SRE’s 2022 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 3.9%.
DTE Energy Company DTE reported third-quarter 2022 operating EPS of $1.60, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.58 by 1.3%.
The long-term earnings growth of DTE is currently pegged at 6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DTE’s 2022 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 0.5%.
ONE Gas Inc. OGS reported third-quarter 2022 operating earnings per share of 44 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 41 cents by 7.3%.
The long-term earnings growth of OGS is currently pegged at 5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for OGS’ 2022 earnings implies year-over-year growth of 5.7%.
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