Duke Energy Reports 51% Jump in Q4 Earnings (DUK)
NYSE: DUK), U.S’s biggest power company, reported on Wednesday fiscal fourth-quarter earnings that climbed 51% thanks to the acquisition of its rival Progress Energy last summer.
For the quarter, Duke Energy reported a profit of $435 million, or 62 cents a share, compared to $288 million, or 65 cents a share, in the year earlier quarter.
Stripping onetime items such as acquisition related expenses, adjusted or non-GAAP earnings came at 70 cents, a penny down from year-earlier quarter but beating analysts’ consensus estimate of 64 cents a share.
For fiscal 2012, Duke Energy’s full year adjusted earnings came at $4.32 a share, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $4.13. However, earnings were lower than the year earlier period’s figure of $4.38. The Company had forecasted for earnings to be in the range of $4.20 to $4.35 a share for the fiscal 2012.
The acquisition of Progress Energy helped Duke Energy to bolster its earnings in franchised gas and electric business. Its income in this division doubled to $498 million offsetting weakness in its other two business segments-commercial power and international energy.
Duke Energy completed its acquisition of Progress Energy last year, a move that resulted in a larger company with five utilities in six states, serving more than seven million customers.
Meanwhile, Duke Energy’s Chief Executive, Jim Rogers said in earnings call on Wednesday that as part of its multiyear $9 billion fleet modernization program, Duke Energy has decided to withdraw up to 6,800 megawatts (MW) of coal-fired generating capacity by 2015.
“This program has put us ahead of the curve in our industry in terms of preparing for compliance with stricter environmental regulations,” said Rogers.
The Company will be providing its outlook on fiscal 2013 at an analysts meeting on February 28.
More Posts by this author
- Market Update After Hours February 14
- Stocks End Flat as Euro Zone Economic Data Weighs Down Sentiment
- Forex Market Update: Euro Slips after Weak Euro Zone GDP Data
- ValueClick Reports Q4 Results; Shares Surge (VCLK)
- Gold Prices Settle Lower; Silver Prices also Fall
- Stocks Flat in Late Trading
- Zillow Shares Soar on Upbeat Q1 Outlook (Z)
 |
Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.
|
