Yahoo Finance Why Should You Buy Portland General Electric (POR) Stock Now?
Portland General Electric POR continues to benefit from strategic investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure. Given its growth opportunities, POR makes for a solid investment option in the utility sector.
Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a promising investment pick at the moment.
Growth Projections
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for POR’s 2024 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 0.7% to $3.08 in the past 60 days.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 revenues is pegged at $3.22 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 10.3%.
Debt Position
Currently, Portland General Electric’s total debt-to-capital ratio is 56.17, better than the industry average of 62.21.
The time-to-interest earned ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2024 was 2.7. The ratio, being greater than one, reflects the company’s ability to meet future interest obligations without difficulties.
Liquidity
POR’s current ratio is 1.22, better than the industry’s average of 0.8. A current ratio greater than one indicates that the company has enough short-term assets to liquidate to cover all short-term liabilities if necessary.
Dividend History
The company has been consistently increasing shareholder value through dividends. Currently, POR’s quarterly dividend is 50 cents per share, resulting in an annual dividend of $2, up 5.3% from the previous level of $1.90. The company targets 5-7% long-term dividend growth. Its current dividend yield of 4.22% is better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s average of 1.27%.
Strategic Investments
Strategic capital investments make POR’s infrastructure stronger and more resilient. It has a planned capital expenditure of more than $6 billion through 2028. The company expects its capital expenditures to be worth $1.3 billion in 2024, which includes the upgrade and replacement of generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure as well as battery energy storage systems projects.
Price Performance
In the past six months, shares of Portland General Electric have rallied 10.2% compared with the industry’s growth of 9.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are PNM Resources PNM, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation PNW and DTE Energy DTE, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
PNM’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 4.6%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 2.2% in the last four quarters.
PNW’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Pinnacle West Capital’s 2024 EPS implies a year-over-year improvement of 7.9%.
DTE’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DTE Energy’s 2024 EPS implies a year-over-year increase of 16.9%.
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DTE Energy Company (DTE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Portland General Electric Company (POR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
PNM Resources, Inc. (PNM) : Free Stock Analysis Report
