Entergy is a holding company with five regulated integrated utilities that generate and distribute electricity to about 3 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It is one of the largest power producers in the country with 24 gigawatts of rate-regulated owned and leased power generation capacity. Entergy was the second-largest nuclear owner in the US before it began retiring and selling its plants in the Northeast in 2014. It plans to sell its two small gas utilities in Louisiana.

Management's ability to "raise guidance" can often be a catalyst for market-beating returns in the quarters ahead. The first-quarter earnings season has crossed the 90% mark and is wrapping up, with blended earnings (actual results and the consensus for those still to report) showing a year-over-year gain of almost 7%, according to Refinitiv. That is considerably better than the 4%-7% advance expected at the start of the earnings period. Leading the outperformance were strong gains in Communication Services earnings, up 43%, and Consumer Discretionary, up 26%. On the flipside, Healthcare and Energy, both down 24%, are performing the worst. Our analysts are always on the lookout for companies that boost outlooks during earnings season, as this is often a signal for momentum in the months ahead. Here is an initial list of BUY-rated companies in the Argus Fundamental Universe of Coverage at which management raised guidance or increased its outlook during the 1Q24 EPS reporting season.

With every earnings win reported on Wednesday, there seems to be an equal and opposite reaction in the form of an earnings disappointment. And with earnings the main source of investor optimism or caution today, it's little surprise that the major U.S. stock indices are flat. Over the course of the morning, the indices have played jump rope with their opening levels, landing on one side for a period of time only to land on the other side shortly thereafter. Still, after multiple days of gains, the financial press is viewing the lack of further share-price progress as worrisome, and it is not difficult to find the words 'stalled' and 'lost steam' used to label the stock market today. Geopolitics are not helping, as tension in the Middle East continues to roil that area and is the basis for domestic discontent as well, while U.S. relations with China remain strained after the U.S. revoked export licenses for Intel and Qualcomm to sell chips to China's Huawei, a maker of PCs and mobile phones. The Dow was up 0.2%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq lost 0.3%. Crude oil is trading below $79 per barrel and gold is little changed at $2324 per ounce.

Entergy is a holding company with five regulated integrated utilities that generate and distribute electricity to about 3 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It is one of the largest power producers in the country with approximately 23 gigawatts of rate-regulated utility-owned power generation capacity. Entergy was the second-largest nuclear owner in the US before it began retiring and selling its plants in the Northeast in 2014. It plans to sell its two small gas utilities in Louisiana.