Dive Brief:
- Duke Energy third quarter 2014 operational earnings, which excluded one-time losses and gains, were $1.40 per share, below Q3 2013’s $1.46 per share and significantly short of the $1.52 per share expected by analysts, reports the Charlotte Business Journal.
- Q3 2014 revenue was $6.4 billion, higher than the previous year's $6.21 billion Q3 revenue. Q3 2014 net income was $1.27 billion, and $1.80 per share, up from Q3 2013’s $1 billion, and $1.42 per share, based largely on a $477 million gain from the sale of Duke's Midwest commercial generation fleet to Dynegy.
- For the first nine months of 2014, Duke’s net income was $1.79 billion, and $2.52 per share, down from its $1.98 billion, and $2.79 per share, net income for the first nine months of 2013. It reported being on track to meet its full year 2014 forecasted per share operational earnings of between $4.50 and $4.65.
Dive Insight:
Duke’s regulated utility earnings, which are about 90% of the company’s business, were slowed by a cooler-than-normal summer that reduced the need for cooling powered by electricity. The utilities did see continued post-recession growth in their overall customer base.
“Our generation assets performed well during the third quarter, led by the nuclear fleet’s record 98% capacity factor,” President/CEO Lynn Good said. “We’re investing in solar projects and new natural gas generation; planning a major grid modernization in Indiana; and proposing to invest in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline that will bring diverse natural gas supplies to eastern North Carolina,” the Charlotte Business Journal reported.
Duke saw weaker earnings in its international operations, associated with the Brazilian drought, and slowed growth in industrial power sales, associated with the closure of two eastern North Carolina power plants.
