CenterPoint Energy CNP continues to benefit from increasing electricity demand, backed by the rapid electrification of transportation and buildings. The company’s strategic investments enable it to expand its operations and improve service reliability. CNP is a good investment option in the utility industry, given its growth prospects.
Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a strong investment pick at the moment.
CNP’s Growth Projections
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share (EPS) is pinned at $1.91, indicating a year-over-year increase of 8.5%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 sales is pinned at $9.84 billion, indicating a year-over-year increase of 5.2%.
CenterPoint Energy’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 8.86%.
CNP’s Solvency
CenterPoint Energy’s time-to-interest earned ratio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025 was 2.4. The ratio, being greater than one, reflects the company’s ability to meet future interest obligations without difficulties.
CNP’s Focus on Investments
To meet rising electricity demand, CenterPoint Energy has been investing significantly to expand its operations and upgrade its aging electric and natural gas transmission and distribution infrastructure.
In 2025, the company made capital expenditures of nearly $5.4 billion and expects to invest about $6.8 billion in 2026. It also plans to invest approximately $65.5 billion over the 2026–2035 period. These investments support the undergrounding of distribution lines and the installation of self-healing automation devices, which enhance grid resilience and reliability, leading to fewer and shorter power outages for customers as well as significant operational cost savings.
CNP’s Dividend Growth
The company has been consistently increasing the value of its shareholders through dividends. CNP expects dividend per share to grow 6% annually. Currently, its annualized dividend is 92 cents per share. Its current dividend yield is 2.2%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite's average of 1.14%.
CNP’s Share Price Performance
In the past three months, the stock has returned 9.4% compared with the industry’s growth of 2.7%.
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Other Stocks to Consider
Some other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are NiSource NI, Duke Energy DUK and Entergy Corporation ETR, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
NiSource’s long-term earnings growth rate is 5.97%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NI’s 2026 EPS implies an improvement of 7.9% year over year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DUK’s 2026 EPS implies an improvement of 6.3% year over year. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 4.8% in the last four quarters.
ETR’s long-term earnings growth rate is 11.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ETR’s 2026 EPS implies an improvement of 12.8% year over year.
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NiSource, Inc (NI): Free Stock Analysis Report
Entergy Corporation (ETR): Free Stock Analysis Report
Duke Energy Corporation (DUK): Free Stock Analysis Report
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CNP): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).