CenterPoint Energy Powers Up: Fool by Numbers

On Nov. 2, electric and natural gas utility CenterPoint Energy (NYSE: CNP) released third-quarter earnings for the period ended Sept. 30.

• Revenues declined by 6.7% to $1.9 billion because of a drop in the natural gas distribution and competitive natural gas sales and service segments.
  
• EPS climbed by 73% to $0.26.
  
• Management bumped up its full-year 2006 EPS guidance to a range of $1.00 to $1.10 compared to its prior expectation of $0.90 to $1.00.
  
• Our Motley Fool CAPS players have a semi-blase, two-star opinion of CenterPoint's stock.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Sales	$1,935	$2,073	(6.7%)
Net Profit*	$83	$50	66%
EPS	$0.26	$0.15	73.3%
Diluted Shares	325	347	(6.3%)

*Net profit does not include income from discontinued operations.

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change*
Gross Margin	27.39%	22.19%	5.20
Operating Margin	14.68%	10.85%	3.83
Net Margin	4.29%	2.41%	1.88

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$680	$554	22.7%
Accounts Rec.	$716	$745	(3.9%)
Inventory	$382	$397	(3.8%)

Liabilities	Q3 2006	Q3 2005	Change
Accounts Payable	$547	$845	(35.3%)
Long-Term Debt	$7,905	$6,494	21.7%

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

	YTD 2006	YTD 2005	Change
Cash From Ops.	$728	$313	132.6%
Capital Expenditures	$641	$506	26.7%
Free Cash Flow	$87	($193)	N/A

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

• Alliant Energy (NYSE: LNT)
• Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED)
• DPL (NYSE: DPL)
• Energy East (NYSE: EAS)
• Nisource (NYSE: NI)

Get in the game now and help make our CAPS community of more than 12,000 players smarter.

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.