NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE) Beats Analyst Expectations As Revenues Rise 12% In First Quarter 2015

NextEra Energy Inc. leaped ahead of analyst expectations Wednesday as revenues rose 12 percent in the first quarter. The Florida clean-energy company reaffirmed its outlook for 2015 and said it was on track to add hundreds of megawatts in solar and wind energy projects in the next quarter.

NextEra reported earnings of $650 million, or $1.45 a share, for the first three months of the year, up from $430 million, or 98 cents a share, in the same period in 2014. Revenue jumped to $4.1 billion in the first quarter, from $3.7 billion in the prior-year quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting revenues of $3.9 billion and earnings of $1.27 a share, the Wall Street Journal noted.

Next Era has multiple units, including the utility Florida Power & Light and energy developer NextEra Energy Resources. The company is the largest wind and solar power producer in North America and is rapidly expanding, with plans to add 500 megawatts’ worth of renewable energy projects to its pipeline, Chairman and CEO Jim Robo said in a statement Wednesday morning. “We continue to be well positioned to add further projects in the coming months,” he said.

The company in December agreed to buy most of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., the biggest utility in the island state, in a deal valued at around $4.3 billion. The acquisition is expected to accelerate rooftop solar development across Hawaii, which has the most expensive electricity in the country.

NextEra had consolidated revenues for 2014 of around $17 billion and controls about 45,000 megawatts of power generating capacity, including nuclear and renewable energy facilities. The company owns more than 100 wind farms in North America and operates around 785 megawatts in solar farms.