Al Root

More extreme weather and power outages mean more earnings for generator maker Generac.

The company reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of $2.80 from sales of $1.2 billion on Wednesday. Wall Street was looking for $2.53 and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Sales rose 16% year over year, up from about 10% growth in the third quarter. Residential sales grew 28% year over year. Commercial sales were flat.

CEO Aaron Jagdfeld said in a news release that the results showed it capitalized on the strong demand for portable generators when there were power outages in the second half of the year. "The mega-trends that support our long-term expectations were on full display in 2024 as power quality continued to deteriorate and power prices continued to increase, " he said.

Power outage hours in the U.S. were the highest since 2010 when Generac started tracking the metric.

Generac stock was up 2.3% in premarket trading at $145.01, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were about 0.1%.

Coming into Wednesday's trading, Generac stock was down about 26% over the past three months. Shares are down only 1% over the past six months. Generac stock tends to be volatile around extreme weather events such as hurricanes and wildfires.

Looking ahead, Generac expects sales growth of 3% to 7% and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, profit margins of between 18% and 19%.

That implies sales and Ebitda of about $4.5 billion and $835 million, respectively. Wall Street currently projects $4.6 billion and $877 million, respectively, according to FactSet.

Guidance is a little below the Street, but investors don't seem to mind.

Management hosts a conference call at 10 a.m. Eastern time to discuss results. Investors and analysts will want to hear more about the demand for backup power in 2025 and beyond.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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February 12, 2025 07:37 ET (12:37 GMT)

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