Spire (NYSE: SR) reported Q2 EPS of $2.38, $0.01 better than the analyst estimate of $2.37. Revenue for the quarter came in at $643.7 million versus the consensus estimate of $700.95 million.

GUIDANCE:

Spire sees FY2017 EPS of $3.50-$3.63, versus the consensus of $3.52.

Earnings Guidance and Outlook

As noted earlier, Spire\'s capital spending for the Missouri Utilities and Alagasco for the first six months of the current fiscal year is more than 40 percent higher than the comparable period last year, tangible proof of our success in ramping up our infrastructure upgrades as well as investments to support new business and technology enhancements. As a result, we now anticipate our capital expenditures for fiscal 2017 to be approximately $445 million, up from our original estimate of $410 million. This compares to actual fiscal 2016 capital spending of $293 million. Investment in our gas utilities is now expected to be approximately $415 million, up from $370 million, and we still expect that roughly 75 percent will be recovered with minimal regulatory lag.

We have also updated our longer-term capital expenditure outlook, extending that view through 2021. We now anticipate our five-year capital spend for the fiscal years 2017-2021 to total approximately $2.3 billion, up from $2.0 billion for our last five-year forecast ended 2020.

We also confirm our long-term NEE per share growth target remains 4-6 percent. Further, we expect that dividends should grow at the higher end of that range as we strive to get to the middle of our target payout ratio of 55-65 percent.

Looking to the rest of fiscal 2017, we are confirming our original NEE guidance range of $3.50-$3.60 per fully diluted share. It is likely that earnings will fall in the lower half of that range given the significantly warmer and more volatile weather during the first half of fiscal 2017, which represents a majority of the heating season in our service territories.

Highlights

• Second quarter fiscal 2017 diluted earnings per share of $2.36, compared to $2.31 in fiscal 2016
• Net economic earnings* (NEE) per share of $2.38 up from prior year results of $2.37
• Spire board of directors declared quarterly common stock dividend of $0.525 per share
• Five-year capital expenditures forecast through 2021 increased to nearly $2.3 billion
• Laclede Gas and Missouri Gas Energy file separate rate change proposals in Missouri that include plans to invest in customer service and continued infrastructure upgrades

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Spire (SR) click here.