CenterPoint Energy Lifts 2015 EPS View - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - CenterPoint Energy Inc. (CNP) said that it revised its 2015 earnings per share guidance from its original range of $1.00 to $1.10 to $1.05 to $1.10 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $1.05 per share for fiscal year 2015. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. It adjusted guidance towards the higher end of the range for 2015, largely due to the performance of its utility businesses.

The company targets 4-6 percent earnings per share annual growth through 2018 on a guidance basis, inclusive of midstream investments.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. and its subsidiary, CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. (CERC), announced that the 2015 third quarter earnings reflect impairments totaling $862 million related to the 55.4 percent equity investment in Enable Midstream Partners, LP. The non-cash charges include an impairment of CenterPoint Energy's and CERC's equity investment in Enable Midstream of $156 million after-tax and its share, $381 million after-tax, of the goodwill and long-lived asset impairment charges of approximately $1.1 billion that Enable Midstream reported for the third quarter 2015. The non-cash impairment charges will not affect CenterPoint Energy's or CERC's liquidity, cash flows or compliance with debt covenants.

CenterPoint Energy reported a net loss of $391 million dollars, or a loss of $0.91 per diluted share, for the third quarter of 2015. Excluding the impairment charges, third quarter 2015 net income would have been $146 million or $0.34 per share compared with $143 million or $0.33 per share in the same quarter last year. On a guidance basis, third quarter 2015 earnings would have been $0.34 per diluted share, consisting of $0.24 from utility operations and $0.10 from midstream investments.