PORTLAND, Ore., October 13, 2019 – Shares of Northwest Natural Holding Company (NYSE: NWN) showed the bullish trend with a higher momentum of 0.58% to $69.37. The company traded total volume of 92.732K shares as contrast to its average volume of 124.03K shares. The company has a market value of $2.09B and about 30.07M shares outstanding.
For the first quarter of 2019, Northwest Natural Holding Company, (NWN) reported that net income from continuing operations increased $1.40M to $43.40M (or $1.50 per share), compared to net income from continuing operations of $42.00M (or $1.46 per share) for the same period in 2018. Results reflected higher margin due to new natural gas rates in Oregon and customer growth, partially offset by a regulatory pension disallowance from the final order in the Oregon general rate case and higher operations and maintenance expense.
Excluding the regulatory pension disallowance, on a non-GAAP basis adjusted net income from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2019 was $50.00M (or $1.73 per share) or an increase of $8.00M compared to the same period in 2018. Results reflected higher margin from new natural gas rates in Oregon and customer growth, partially offset by higher operations and maintenance expense.
BALANCE SHEET AND CASH FLOWS:
During 2019, the Company generated $104.80M in operating cash flow and invested $48.80M of capital expenditures in our natural gas distribution segment to support growth, safety, and technology and facility upgrades. Net cash provided by operations was relatively flat mainly due to timing of higher collections from colder than average weather offset by higher gas prices. Cash used in financing activities increased $14.30M primarily due to higher short-term debt balances in 2019.
The Company continues to expect capital expenditures for 2019 to be in the range of $230 to $270.0M to support gas utility customer growth and safety and reliability, as well as several projects. The total capital investment for the five-year period from 2019 to 2023 is expected to range from $850 to $950.0M, with a majority of the investment supporting continued customer growth, natural gas distribution system maintenance and improvements, investments in a new headquarters building and technology, and utility gas storage facility maintenance.
The Company offered net profit margin of 9.40% while its gross profit margin was 60.90%. ROE was recorded as 8.60% while beta factor was 0.24. The stock, as of recent close, has shown the weekly downbeat performance of -0.42% which was maintained at 14.74% in this year.
