Net income climbed to $130 million, or 38 cents a share, from $88 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier, Houston-based CenterPoint said today in a statement. Revenue rose 0.9 percent to $3.11 billion.
Texas has added more population than any other state for two straight years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. CenterPoint said its gas utilities had 48,000 more customers than a year earlier at the end of March. The company also delivers power to about 2 million Houston-area homes and businesses, including almost 39,000 added in the past year.
``It was a very strong quarter, basically driven by the natural-gas business,'' said Daniele Seitz, an analyst at Dahlman Rose & Co. in New York who has a ``hold'' rating on CenterPoint shares and doesn't own any.
Earnings from gas distribution rose 25 percent to $129 million, partly because cooler weather than a year earlier led to more furnace use by customers. Profit from competitive gas sales and service more than doubled to $56 million.
Chief Executive Officer David McClanahan is expanding CenterPoint's interstate pipeline business, a key source of growth. That segment, which generated only 2.9 percent of first- quarter revenue, accounted for more than 12 percent of earnings.
Expectations Exceeded
Overall, earnings per share were 5 cents higher than the average of eight analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The analyst estimates were based on profit excluding one-time charges and gains. CenterPoint didn't cite a profit figure on that basis.
Shares of CenterPoint fell 4 cents to $19.57 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock, which has three buy and 10 hold ratings from analysts, has climbed 18 percent this year.
CenterPoint's gas utilities have more than 3 million customers in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi and Oklahoma. In the Houston area, CenterPoint distributes power generated by others and sold to customers by retailers such as Houston-based Reliant Energy Inc. and Dallas-based TXU Corp.
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