How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Atmos Energy (ATO) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to ATO for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Atmos Energy's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Atmos Energy's main business drivers. Founded in 1906, Atmos Energy Corporation, along with its subsidiaries, is engaged in regulated natural gas distribution and storage business. The company serves nearly 3.3 million customers in more than 1,400 communities in eight states from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the East to the Rocky Mountains in the West. The company operates more than 80,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines. Atmos Energy’s pipelines are connected to 37 different pipelines across eight states, thereby providing supplier diversity.
Since 2011, Atmos Energy’s operating strategy has been focused on modernizing its transmission and distribution network as well as reducing regulatory lag. This operating strategy allowed the company to increase capital expenditure by nearly 13% per annum, improve safety and reliability of its operations as well as lower methane emissions from its system.
The company manages its operation through the following reportable segments.
The distribution segment is primarily comprised of the company’s regulated natural gas distribution and related sales operations in eight states, and storage assets located in Kentucky and Tennessee. This segment contributed nearly 94%, 95.9% and 96% to the company’s total revenues in fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Pipeline and storage segment is primarily comprised of the pipeline and storage operations of Atmos Pipeline-Texas division, and the company’s natural gas transmission operations in Louisiana. The company operates five storage facilities, having a combined storage capacity of 53 billion cubic feet. This segment contributed nearly 22.5%, 18.4% and 16.5% to the company’s total revenues in fiscal 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Intersegment Eliminations lowered revenues by 16.5%, 14.3% and 12.5% in the same time frame.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Atmos Energy a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in May 2015 would be worth $3,077.33, or a 207.73% gain, as of May 7, 2025, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 169.54% and the price of gold went up 175.87% over the same time frame.
Analysts are forecasting more upside for ATO too. Atmos Energy’s continues to benefit from rising demand for natural gas, courtesy of an expanding customer base. Atmos Energy's long-term investment plan should further increase the reliability of its natural gas pipelines. The company gains from industrial customer additions and constructive rate outcomes. Returns within a year of capital investment should further boost its performance. ATO has enough liquidity to meet its near-term debt obligations. Shares of the company have outperformed the industry in the past six months. Yet, the risk of accidents in natural gas distribution and competition from other clean alternative fuel suppliers act as headwinds. Dependence on a single state for its revenues exposes the company to the state’s weather fluctuations and economic status. The stock has jumped 10.29% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 3 higher, for fiscal 2025; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Atmos Energy Corporation (ATO): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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