Can NRG Energy (NRG) Spring a Surprise this Earnings Season?

NRG Energy NRG will release second-quarter 2017 financial results on Aug 3, before market open. Last quarter, this power management company witnessed a negative earnings surprise of 26.83%.

Let’s see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors to Consider

NRG Energy has witnessed growth in the number of customers in the last few quarters. During the first quarter, the company's customer count increased by 14,000. This is expected to boost earnings in the quarter under review.

NRG Energy expects to save as much $500 million from its cost-saving initiatives in 2017, as was the case last year. These initiatives are expected to broaden the company’s margin and boost earnings.

NRG Energy has successfully lowered $1 billion in debt through its corporate debt-reduction program since the third quarter of 2015. Even then, its Debt/Capital ratio as of March 31 was 81.53%, which is way higher than the S&P 500's ratio of 41.72%.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that NRG Energy is likely to beat estimates this quarter. That is because a stock needs to have a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. But that is not the case here, as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: The Company’s Earnings ESP is 0.00% because the Most Accurate estimate and the Zacks Consensus Estimate are pegged at a loss of 4 cents. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Though NRG Energy’s Zacks Rank #2 increases the predictive power of ESP, the 0.00% ESP makes surprise prediction difficult.

We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies you may want to consider from the Zacks categorized Utility sector as our proven model shows that they have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter.

Pattern Energy Group Inc. PEGI has an Earnings ESP of +23.08% and carries a Zacks Rank #2. It is slated to report second-quarter 2017 earnings on Aug 8. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The AES Corporation AES has an Earnings ESP of +20.00% and holds a Zacks Rank #2. It is slated to report second-quarter 2017 earnings on Aug 8.

Allete, Inc. ALE has an Earnings ESP of +5.36% and holds a Zacks Rank #2. It is slated to report second-quarter 2017 earnings on Aug 8.

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