Entergy Corporation (ETR) indicated that it expects fourth quarter 2009 earnings to be approximately $1.63 per share and operational earnings approximately $1.74 per share compared to its results of $0.89 per share and operational results of $0.99 per share in fourth quarter 2008. The company will report on Feb 2, 2010.
Entergy expects an increase in fourth quarter 2009 operational earnings year-over-year due primarily to better results at Utility, Parent & Other segment, partially offset by lower earnings at Entergy Nuclear segment.
Entergy’s optimism for higher Utility, Parent & Other operational earnings in fourth quarter 2009 was due primarily to lower income tax expense, as well as lower non-fuel operation and maintenance expense primarily resulting from the absence of regulatory charges associated with rate proceedings at Entergy Arkansas, Inc. in 2008. Also contributing to the earnings improvement was higher Utility net revenue, including increased sales volume for all customer classes.
Entergy Nuclear’s expected quarter-over-quarter decrease in operational earnings was due primarily to higher income tax and non-fuel operation and maintenance expense. Partially offsetting lower results was higher net revenue, with both pricing and generation driving the increase. Increased generation is attributed to the absence of scheduled refueling outages in the fall of 2009, compared to 32 days of scheduled refueling outages in fourth quarter 2008.
Entergy reaffirmed its 2010 guidance ranges of $6.15 to $6.95 per share for earnings and $6.40 to $7.20 per share for operational earnings.
New Orleans-based Entergy is primarily engaged in electric power production and retail distribution. With 30,000MW of generating capacity, it distributes electricity to 2.6 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Of this, 14,631MW are gas/oil based, 2,259MW coal based, 70MW hydro based and the rest is nuclear-based. With around 13,000MW of nuclear-based energy, the company is the second largest nuclear power generator in the U.S. The company also distributes natural gas to 240,000 customers in Louisiana.
Read the full analyst report on “ETR”
Zacks Investment Research
