Yahoo Finance Reasons to Add IDACORP (IDA) to Your Portfolio Right Now
IDACORP Inc.’s IDA planned investments are expected to strengthen its infrastructure, which should help boost performance. The company’s cost management and focus on producing more electricity from clean sources act as tailwinds. Given its growth opportunities, IDA makes for a solid investment option in the utility sector.
Let’s explore the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a strong investment pick at the moment.
Growth Projections & Surprise History
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IDACORP’s 2024 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 0.6% to $5.35 in the past 30 days.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 sales is pinned at $1.79 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 1.1%.
The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 6.8% in the last four quarters.
Debt Position
Currently, IDA’s total debt to capital is 49.16%, much better than the industry’s average of 59.66%.
The time-to-interest earned ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2024 was 2.8. The ratio, being greater than one, reflects IDACORP’s ability to meet future interest obligations without difficulties.
Liquidity
IDACORP’s current ratio is 1.54, better than the industry’s average of 0.88. 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 paying dividends to its shareholders. Currently, its quarterly dividend is 83 cents per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $3.32, up 5.1% from the previous rate. The company’s current dividend yield is 3.59%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s 1.27%.
Systematic Investments
The company expects capital expenditure to be in the range of $925-$975 million in 2024, $850-$950 million in 2025 and $2-$2.5 billion during 2026-2028. The planned long-term investment reflects an increase from the previous five-year capital expenditure plan of the company. The strong capital expenditure should further strengthen the company’s infrastructure and expand operations, allowing it to serve a wider customer base.
Price Performance
In the past three months, IDACORP’s shares have risen 6.2% compared with the sector’s growth of 5.9%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Other Stocks to Consider
A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are Portland General Electric POR, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation PNW and PPL Corporation PPL, each presently carrying a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for POR’s 2024 EPS implies a year-over-year improvement of 29.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for sales indicates year-over-year growth of 10.3%.
PNW’s long-term earnings (three-to-five-year) growth rate is 8.22%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 233.5% in the last four quarters.
PPL’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6.82%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2024 EPS implies a year-over-year improvement of 6.9%.
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PPL Corporation (PPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
IDACORP, Inc. (IDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Portland General Electric Company (POR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
