WEC Energy Rides on Strategic Investments & Focus on Clean Energy

WEC Energy Group’s WEC strategic investments strengthen infrastructure and allow it to meet increasing demand from customers. The company’s focus on clean energy further drives its performance. 

However, this currently Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company faces risks related to increased competition in the electric and natural gas markets.

Factors Acting in Favor of WEC

WEC Energy is gaining on the back of improving demand from large and small commercial and industrial (C&I) customers, as well as that from the residential space. On average, more than 60% of the company’s electricity is sold to the C&I group. Hence, the improving demand from this group will boost WEC Energy’s performance.

Based on improving conditions in the company’s service area, it continues to witness an uptick in customer volumes. For the Wisconsin segment, the company expects weather-normalized electric sales to increase 4.5-5% and gas sales to grow 0.7-1% year over year during 2027-2029.

During 2025-2029, it plans to invest $28 billion, out of which $9.1 billion will be invested in regulated renewable projects. The idea is to further strengthen WEC Energy’s renewable portfolio. During the same period, WEC Energy plans to build and own nearly 4.4 gigawatt (GW). This includes solar generation of 2.9 GW, with an investment of $5.5 billion, battery storage of 565 megawatt (MW), with an investment of $0.9 billion, and wind generation of 900 MW, with an investment of $2.7 billion. Through all these clean energy generation initiatives, the company aims to achieve net carbon neutrality by 2050.

Challenges Faced by WEC

WEC Energy’s ability to obtain and retain customers, including wholesale customers, due to increased competition in its electric and natural gas markets from retail choice and alternative electric suppliers and continued industry consolidation, is a concern.

The company’s operations are subject to significant state, local and federal governmental regulations, which may affect WEC Energy’s ability to recover costs from utility customers.

WEC Stock’s Price Performance

In the past six months, shares of the company have risen 10.1% compared with the industry’s 5.4% growth.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the same industry are CenterPoint Energy CNP, NiSource Inc. NI and Evergy EVRG, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

CNP’s long-term (three-to-five-year) earnings growth rate is 7.76%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CNP’s 2025 earnings per share (EPS) indicates an increase of 8% from the previous year’s reported number.

NiSource’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7.88%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NI’s 2025 EPS implies an improvement of 7.4% from that recorded in 2024.

Evergy’s long-term earnings growth rate is 5.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EVRG’s 2025 EPS implies a year-over-year increase of 5.8%. 

 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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