Boston, MA 05/29/2014 (wallstreetpr) – AES Corp (NYSE:AES) is deemed to face criticism by the investors, largely owing to its dwindling performance and constant decline year-over-year. However, all and sundry should acknowledge that lack of available natural gas in January, and instances of forced outages resulted in profits dwindling! Additionally, poor hydrology across Brazil and Panama created a negative impact upon the performance of the first quarter.
Financial Highlights
AES Corp (NYSE:AES) reported a significant drop in adjusted earnings by 11.1%, dropping from 27 cents to 24 cents per share! Inclusive of one-time charges of 31 cents in Q1-2014, the company suffered from GAAP loss of 7 cents/share against EPS of 15 cents in Q1-2013.
AES generated net revenues estimating at $4.26 billion in Q1-2014, surging up 2.7 YoY. Administrative and general expenses embarked to the $51 million, reducing by 5.6% YoY. Net cost increased by 2.0% YoY, amounting to $3.46 billion. The net interest expenses surged up over $33 million YoY, plummeting up to $373 million.
AES possesses cash and its equivalents estimating at $1.41 billion towards the end of Q1-2014. The company had better cash reserves of $1.64 billion at the end of Q4-2013. Non recourse debt also increased from $13.3 billion in Q4-2013 to $13.7 billion in Q1-2014, rising only marginally!
Total cash notched up from operating activities in Q1-2014 staggered at $0.2 billion, in contrast to a better $0.6 billion in Q1-2013. Net capital expenses in this quarter amounted to $399 million; in Q1-2013, the net expenses were $401 million!
AES Corp (NYSE:AES) has announced a rise in quarterly dividends by 5 cents/share.
AES Corp.’s Yearly Projections
AES Corp. portrayed that its adjusted earnings would swell to a tipping point between $1.30 and $1.38 for every share. However, dry hydrological conditions throughout the territories of Latin America have caught AES on the backfoot! Hence, investors can ascertain that the EPS should remain near the lower projected range.
Cash flow throughout 2014 might be between $2.2 – $2.8 billion. Free cash flow on the other hand is estimated to remain within the range of $1.0 – $1.3 billion throughout the remaining quarters of 2014.
AES Plans To Enhance Its Production Capacities
AES is all set to enhance its production capacity of natural gas, as it has received the due approval for establishing two big natural gas projects. AES Corp (NYSE:AES) has plans to construct a gas turbine power generation plant that produces 650 Megawatt of power. Further, it has been approved to use two existing coal based power plants in order to generate natural gas up to 200 MW.
