ISI Group Reiterates Neutral Rating, $41 PT on Wisconsin Energy Corporation on Q1'13 EPS

In a report published Wednesday, ISI Group analyst Greg Gordon reiterated a Neutral rating and $41.00 price target on Wisconsin Energy Corporation

. In the report, Gordon noted, “WEC reported Q1 ‘13 EPS of $0.76 vs. consensus of $0.71, company guidance of $0.69-$0.73, and Q1 ‘12 EPS of $0.74. Weather drove strong customer demand in the gas business and benefited We Power as well. In aggregate, weather was a $0.14 help YOY and likely the factor that drove the beat relative to expectations. On a weather-normalized basis retail sales were down 0.3% (ex. mines). Out of the 17 industrial sectors that WEC serves, only the printing/publishing and plastic production sectors showed material growth in Q1. They reiterated its normalized sales growth guidance of +0.2% for the year. WEC reaffirmed 2013 guidance of $2.38-$2.48/share. We are maintaining our '13 estimate of $2.41 and our '14-'15 estimates of $2.52/$2.63 as well as our target price of $41/share.” Wisconsin Energy Corporation closed on Tuesday at $44.94.