Cleco Misses Where it Counts

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Cleco (NYS: CNL) reported earnings on July 31. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended June 30 (Q2), Cleco beat expectations on revenues and missed estimates on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue expanded. Non-GAAP earnings per share contracted. GAAP earnings per share dropped.


Margins dropped across the board.

Revenue details
 Cleco notched revenue of $263.9 million. The one analyst polled by S&P Capital IQ looked for revenue of $249.5 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 9.9% higher than the prior-year quarter's $240.1 million.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures are normalized by S&P Capital IQ and may vary to maintain comparability with normalized estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at $0.62. The four earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated $0.65 per share. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.62 for Q2 were 3.1% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.64 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.69 for Q2 were 10% lower than the prior-year quarter's $0.77 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures are normalized by S&P Capital IQ and may vary to maintain comparability with normalized estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 45.3%, 310 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 28.3%, 260 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 15.9%, 350 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. (Margins calculated in GAAP terms.)

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $311.7 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.06.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.01 billion. The average EPS estimate is $2.52.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 83 members out of 90 rating the stock outperform, and seven members rating it underperform. Among 25 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 23 give Cleco a green thumbs-up, and two give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Cleco is outperform, with an average price target of $47.30.

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The article Cleco Misses Where it Counts originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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