CMS Energy Corporation CMS, with its rising earnings estimates, strategic investments, robust ROE, better solvency and strong dividend history, offers a great investment opportunity in the Zacks Utility Electric Power industry.

Let us focus on the reasons that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock a strong investment pick at the moment.

CMS’ Growth Projections & Surprise History
 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMS Energy’s 2025 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 0.3% to $3.60 per share in the past 30 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMS’ revenues for 2025 stands at $8.06 billion, which indicates growth of 7.3% from the 2024 reported figure.

The company’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is pegged at 7.7%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 4.76% in the last four quarters.

CMS’ Return on Equity
 

Return on equity (ROE) indicates how efficiently a company has been utilizing its funds to generate higher returns. Currently, CMS’ ROE is 12.02% compared with the industry’s 9.89%. This indicates that the company has been utilizing its funds more constructively than its peers in the industry.

CMS’ Solvency
 

CMS Energy’s times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024 was 2.5. The TIE ratio of more than 1 indicates that the company will be able to meet its interest payment obligations in the near term without any problems.

Dividend History of CMS
 

CMS Energy has been increasing shareholder value by steadily paying dividends. Currently, the company’s quarterly dividend is 54.25 cents per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $2.17. The company’s current dividend yield is 3.05%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 Composite's average of 1.31%.

CMS’ Systematic Investments
 

CMS Energy is making significant investments in infrastructure renovations and clean energy generation to improve consumer reliability and resiliency. Over the 2025-2029 period, the company intends to invest $20 billion, of which $14.8 billion will be used to maintain and enhance its gas infrastructure and electric distribution systems, improve customer satisfaction, minimize energy waste on those systems and support clean energy transformation.

CMS Stock Price Performance
 

In the past three months, CMS shares have risen 6.7% compared with the industry’s growth of 2.3%.

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Other Stocks to Consider
 

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are CenterPoint Energy Inc. CNP, NiSource Inc. NI and Ameren Corporation AEE, each holding a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

CNP’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 EPS is pegged at $1.75, which indicates a year-over-year improvement of 8%.  

NI’s long-term earnings growth rate is 8.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 EPS is pegged at $1.91, which suggests a year-over-year rise of 9.1%.  

AEE’s long-term earnings growth rate is 6.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 EPS is pegged at $4.94, which calls for a year-over-year improvement of 6.7%.

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

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