Stock in Focus: Spire Inc. (SR)

Company Profile:

Spire Inc., through its subsidiaries, engages in the purchase, retail distribution, and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and other end-users of natural gas customers in the United States. It operates through two segments, Gas Utility and Gas Marketing. The company is also involved in marketing natural gas and provides energy services on non-regulated basis to on-system utility transportation customers, as well as to retail and wholesale customers. In addition, it engages in the transportation of propane through its propane pipeline; compression of natural gas; risk management; and other activities. The company was formerly known as The Laclede Group, Inc. and changed its name to Spire Inc. in April 2016. Spire Inc. was founded in 1857 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Recent News:

On May 7, 2018, the company has priced a public offering of 2,000,000 shares of its common stock at $68.75 per share. Spire has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 300,000 additional shares of common stock.

For its fiscal 2018 second quarter ended March 31, 2018, the company reported GAAP earnings per diluted share of $2.03, compared to $2.36 a year ago. Net economic earnings per share of $2.83, up from $2.38 a year ago.

Fundamental Analysis:

Ninestocks analyzes several different financial aspects: Growth, Profitability, solvency and efficiency.

Growth – Measures the growth of both the company’s income statement and cash flow.

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Profitability – Measures the historical price movement of the stock.

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Solvency – Measures the solvency of the company based on several ratios.

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Efficiency – Measures the strength and historic growth of a company’s return on invested capital.

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Conclusion:

SR’s strengths can be seen in its better growth, better profitablity and strong efficienct compared with its peers. Its net income has increased over recent several years. Technical indicators signal the bullish signs, as there is a bullish crossover in Stochastic oscillator, the RSI is strong in the bullish zone and the MACD is trying to cross back up. We rate Spire Inc. (SR) a STRONG BUY.