S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) will unveil its latest earnings on Friday, January 27, 2012. NextEra Energy provides electricity-related services through two operating subsidiaries, FPL and FPL Energy.

NextEra Energy, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of 92 cents per share, a rise of 15% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved up from 90 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has dropped from 93 cents during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 2.1% versus last year to $4.39.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company fell short of estimates by 9 cents, coming in at net income of $1.31 per share against a mean estimate of profit of $1.43. The company topped expectations in the second quarter.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $3.75 billion in revenue this quarter, a rise of 10% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $15.53 billion for the year, a rise of 1.4% from last year’s revenue of $15.32 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 13 analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and seven rating it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the third quarter, profit fell 43.5% to $407 million (97 cents a share) from $720 million ($1.74 a share) the year earlier, missing analyst expectations. Revenue fell 6.6% to $4.38 billion from $4.69 billion.

Key Stats:

The decrease in profit in the third quarter came after net income rose in the previous quarter. In the second quarter, net income rose 39.1%.

Revenue fell in the third quarter after seeing a rise the quarter before. In the second quarter, revenue rose 10.3%.

Competitors to Watch: Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), El Paso Electric Company (NYSE:EE), Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR), The Southern Company (NYSE:SO), FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE), PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL), Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:POM), American Electric Power Co., Inc. (NYSE:AEP), Northeast Utilities System (NYSE:NU), and Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:CEG).

Stock Price Performance: During November 22, 2011 to January 23, 2012, the stock price had risen $5.90 (11%) from $53.46 to $59.36. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between November 23, 2011 and December 7, 2011 when shares rose for 10-straight days, rising 9% (+$4.70) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between May 17, 2011 and May 25, 2011 when shares fell for seven-straight days, falling 2.7% (-$1.55) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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