The AES Corporation AES is a global energy company. Its strategic investments to expand its clean energy generation capacity and construction of new generation, transmission and distribution projects are likely to boost its performance. Given its growth opportunities, AES makes for a solid investment option in the Utility sector.
The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Let’s look at the factors that are driving the stock.
Growth Projections & Surprise History of AES
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 and 2025 earnings per share (EPS) is pegged at $1.91 and $2.08, respectively, which indicates year-over-year growth of 8.5% and 8.8%.
The consensus estimate for 2024 and 2025 sales is pegged at $13.32 billion and $13.77 billion, respectively, which indicates year-over-year growth of 5.1% and 3.4%.
AES delivered an average earnings surprise of 19.18% in the past four quarters.
AES Stock’s Dividend Yield
AES distributes dividends to shareholders on a regular basis. Its current dividend yield is 3.82%, which is better than the industry’s average of 3.44%.
AES’ Return on Equity
AES’ current return on equity (ROE) is pinned at 32.74%, which is more than the industry average of 10.34%. ROE, a profitable measure, reflects how effectively a company is utilizing its shareholders’ funds in its operations to generate income.
AES’ Investments
AES is one of the forerunners in the utility industry's transition to clean energy by investing in sustainable growth and innovative solutions. Notably, the company completed the construction and the acquisition of 976 megawatts (MW) of wind, solar and energy storage, during the second quarter of 2024. It signed long-term contracts for 1 gigawatt (GW) of new renewables.
AES signed agreements to support 1.2 GW of new data center load at U.S utilities. It also signed 15-year power purchase agreements for 727 MW of wind and solar energy to serve data center growth in Texas and a 310 MW retail supply agreement to support data centers throughout Ohio.
This should help the company to duly add 3.6 GW of new renewable projects to its portfolio in 2024 and 14-17 GW of renewable energy capacity to its project portfolio during the 2023-2025 time period.
AES Stock Performance
Shares of AES have gained 22% in the past six months compared with the sector’s 18.3% growth.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks in the industry are American Electric Power Company, Inc. AEP, PPL Corporation PPL and NiSource Inc. NI. Each of these stocks currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here.
American Electric Power’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 6.20%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 5.7%.
PPL Corporation’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6.80%. The consensus estimate for 2024 earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 7.5%.
NiSource delivered an average earnings surprise of 20.64% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 earnings indicates year-over-year growth of 7.5%.
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