Despite a 38% Plunge, This Elite Dividend Stock Continues to Generate Impressive Growth

NextEra Energy (NEE -1.36%) is having a rough year on Wall Street. Shares of the utility have plunged by roughly 38% from their 52-week high. 

However, while its shares have taken a nasty tumble, the utility's underlying business is still humming along. That was evident in its impressive third-quarter earnings report it delivered Tuesday.

Another strong quarter

NextEra Energy generated $1.9 billion, or $0.94 per share, of adjusted earnings in the third quarter. That was up 10.6% year over year. That continued its trend of strong performance this year. The company's earnings per share have grown 10.8% through three quarters. It continues to benefit from the solid results of its FPL electric utility in Florida and the strength of its energy resources segment. 

FPL generated $0.58 per share of adjusted earnings in the period, up 7.4% year over year. The utility benefited from new investments. It has grown its retail rate base by 13.6% over the past year by investing in its business, including $2.6 billion in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, NextEra's energy resources segment produced $0.43 per share of adjusted earnings, a more than 16% year-over-year increase. The primary driver of that growth was new investments. NextEra Energy continues to build new wind, solar, and battery storage capacity secured by long-term power purchase agreements with other electric utilities and large corporate buyers. The company placed slightly more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of new projects into service over the past quarter.

The outlook hasn't changed

NextEra Energy reaffirmed its 2023 and long-term outlook despite an uncertain economic environment and challenging conditions in the credit market. The utility expects its earnings to be in the range of $2.98 per share to $3.13 per share for the full year. Meanwhile, it anticipates that its adjusted earnings will increase to a range of $3.23 per share to $3.43 per share in 2024. It also forecasts that earnings will grow by 6% to 8% annually in 2025 and 2026 from 2024's baseline.

"We will be disappointed if we are not able to deliver financial results at or near the top of our adjusted earnings per share expectations ranges in each year through 2026, while maintaining our strong balance sheet and credit ratings," CEO John Ketchum said in the Q3 earnings release.

Achieving results at the high end of its guidance ranges would push its adjusted earnings growth rate to 9.4% from 2021's baseline through 2026. That would be an impressive growth rate for a utility.

The company also continues to expect that it will increase its dividend by around 10% annually through at least 2024. That will keep up its elite streak of dividend growth. NextEra has boosted its payout annually for more than a quarter century. And over the last decade, it has delivered an impressive 11% compound annual dividend growth rate.

Strong demand for renewable energy is fueling the company's continued optimism. NextEra's energy resources segment added over 3.2 GWs of new wind, solar, wind repowering, and battery storage projects to its backlog since it reported its second-quarter results in July. That was the company's best quarter for originations in its history. It brought its backlog to 21 GW. That gives it lots of visibility into its future growth.

Meanwhile, the company continues to find ways to finance its growth despite the headwinds in the financial markets. In September, the company agreed to sell Florida City Gas to Chesapeake Utilities for $923 million in cash. That deal will enable the company to recycle capital into higher-return investments. Non-core asset sales to unrelated third parties will help offset the likelihood that it won't be able to complete additional drop-down transactions with its beleaguered affiliate, NextEra Energy Partners, in the near term. 

An enticing opportunity

The slump in NextEra Energy's stock has the utility trading at a much lower valuation and delivering a higher dividend yield (currently 3.5%). That decline occurred even though the company continues to produce strong earnings and remains on track with its growth forecast. These factors make its stock look like a very attractive investment opportunity right now.