Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. (PNY, Financial) filed Quarterly Report for the period ended 2010-04-30.
Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. has a market cap of $1.81 billion; its shares were traded at around $25.23 with a P/E ratio of 14.7 and P/S ratio of 1.1. The dividend yield of Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. stocks is 4.4%. Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 5.9% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. the business predictability rank of 2-star.PNY is in the portfolios of Chuck Royce of Royce& Associates, Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC, Kenneth Fisher of Fisher Asset Management, LLC.
The GAAP presentation does not adequately reflect our segments because of the inclusion of the gain from the sale of half of our ownership interest in SouthStar, which is in our non-utility activities segment. Excluding this gain, for the six months ended April 30, 2010, 88% of our earnings before taxes came from our regulated utility segment, and earnings before taxes from our non-utility segment was 12%, which consisted of 2% from regulated non-utility activities and 10% from unregulated non-utility activities.
We seek to maintain a long-term debt-to-capitalization ratio within a range of 45% to 50%. We also seek to maintain a strong balance sheet and investment-grade credit ratings to support our operating and investment needs.
Carolina, we operate under a rate stabilization mechanism that achieves the objectives of margin decoupling with a one-year lag. The TRA denied our filing to decouple residential rates without prejudice to us refiling for a decoupled rate structure in a future general rate proceeding. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, these rate designs have stabilized our gas utility margin by providing fixed recovery of 70% of our utility margins, including margin decoupling in North Carolina, facilities charges to our customers and fixed-rate contracts; semi-fixed recovery of 18% of our utility margins, including the rate stabilization mechanism in South Carolina and WNA in South Carolina and Tennessee; and volumetric or periodic renegotiation of 12% of our utility margins. For the six months ended April 30, 2010, the margin decoupling mechanism in North Carolina reduced margin by $18.2 million, and the WNA in South Carolina and Tennessee reduced margin by $9.2 million.
While we are seeing the impacts of the economic recession in our market area with a decline in customer growth in our new construction market and continued customer conservation practices, we have seen some rebound in the industrial markets as compared with the prior year period. As discussed above, we are positioning ourselves to capitalize on new opportunities as the economy improves, specifically focusing on customer conversions to natural gas and power generation opportunities. We are forecasting gross customer addition growth for fiscal 2010 to be 1% 1.2%.
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Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. has a market cap of $1.81 billion; its shares were traded at around $25.23 with a P/E ratio of 14.7 and P/S ratio of 1.1. The dividend yield of Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. stocks is 4.4%. Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 5.9% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Piedmont Natural Gas Company Inc. the business predictability rank of 2-star.PNY is in the portfolios of Chuck Royce of Royce& Associates, Jim Simons of Renaissance Technologies LLC, Kenneth Fisher of Fisher Asset Management, LLC.
Highlight of Business Operations:
We have two reportable business segments, regulated utility and non-utility activities. The regulated utility segment is the largest segment of our business with approximately 97% of our consolidated assets. Factors critical to the success of the regulated segment include a safe, reliable natural gas distribution system and the ability to recover the costs and expenses of the business in the rates charged to customers. For the six months ended April 30, 2010, our earnings before taxes, including the gain from the sale of half of our ownership interest in SouthStar of $49.7 million, were $265.3 million. For the current six-month period, 72% of our earnings before taxes, including the gain from the sale of half of our ownership interest in SouthStar, came from our regulated utility segment. The non-utility activities segment consists of our equity method investments in joint venture, energy-related businesses that are involved in unregulated retail natural gas marketing, interstate natural gas storage and intrastate natural gas transportation. For the six months ended April 30, 2010, the earnings before taxes from our non-utility segment, including the gain from the sale of half of our ownership interest in SouthStar, was 28%, which consisted of 1% from regulated non-utility activities and 27% from unregulated non-utility activities.The GAAP presentation does not adequately reflect our segments because of the inclusion of the gain from the sale of half of our ownership interest in SouthStar, which is in our non-utility activities segment. Excluding this gain, for the six months ended April 30, 2010, 88% of our earnings before taxes came from our regulated utility segment, and earnings before taxes from our non-utility segment was 12%, which consisted of 2% from regulated non-utility activities and 10% from unregulated non-utility activities.
We seek to maintain a long-term debt-to-capitalization ratio within a range of 45% to 50%. We also seek to maintain a strong balance sheet and investment-grade credit ratings to support our operating and investment needs.
Carolina, we operate under a rate stabilization mechanism that achieves the objectives of margin decoupling with a one-year lag. The TRA denied our filing to decouple residential rates without prejudice to us refiling for a decoupled rate structure in a future general rate proceeding. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, these rate designs have stabilized our gas utility margin by providing fixed recovery of 70% of our utility margins, including margin decoupling in North Carolina, facilities charges to our customers and fixed-rate contracts; semi-fixed recovery of 18% of our utility margins, including the rate stabilization mechanism in South Carolina and WNA in South Carolina and Tennessee; and volumetric or periodic renegotiation of 12% of our utility margins. For the six months ended April 30, 2010, the margin decoupling mechanism in North Carolina reduced margin by $18.2 million, and the WNA in South Carolina and Tennessee reduced margin by $9.2 million.
While we are seeing the impacts of the economic recession in our market area with a decline in customer growth in our new construction market and continued customer conservation practices, we have seen some rebound in the industrial markets as compared with the prior year period. As discussed above, we are positioning ourselves to capitalize on new opportunities as the economy improves, specifically focusing on customer conversions to natural gas and power generation opportunities. We are forecasting gross customer addition growth for fiscal 2010 to be 1% 1.2%.
Read the The complete Report
