Earnings Call Excerpt
Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL)
Q1 2006 Earnings Conference Call
April 27th 2006, 10:00 AM.
Executives:
Richard Kolkmann, Managing Director of IR
Benjamin Fowke, Chief Financial Officer and VP
Analysts:
Paul Debbas, Value Line
Greg Gordon, Citigroup
Paul Ridzon, KeyBanc
Nathan Judge, Atlantic Equities
Charles Fishman, A.G. Edwards
Elizabeth Parrella, Merrill Lynch
Dan Jenkins, State of Wisconsin Investment Board
Steven Wang, Citadel Investment Group
Ashar Khan, SAC Capital
Presentation
Operator
Good morning, my name is Michael and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Xcel Energy First Quarter 2006 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Operator Instructions I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Richard Kolkmann, Managing Director, Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.
Richard Kolkmann, Managing Director of IR
Thank you, Michael. And welcome to Xcel Energy's First Quarter 2006 Earnings Conference Call. I'm Dick Kolkmann, Managing Director of Investor Relations, and with me is Ben Fowke, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Xcel Energy. We also have several others here to help provide answers to your questions. Some of the comments that will be made contain forward-looking information. Significant factors that could cause results to differ from those anticipated are described in our earnings release and Xcel Energy filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Now I'll turn the call over to Ben.
Benjamin Fowke, Chief Financial Officer and VP
Thanks, Dick. And welcome everyone. I'm pleased to report that we had a strong first quarter, which gives us a nice jump on the year. Xcel Energy recorded earnings from continuing operations of $0.36 per share for the first quarter of 2006. This compares with $0.30 per share for the first quarter of 2005. Total earnings for the first quarter 2006 were $0.36 per share compared with $0.29 per share for 2005. I'm also happy to say there was very little activity to discuss related to discontinued operations. Our utility operations provided earnings of $0.38 per share for the first quarter 2006, compared with $0.32 per share for 2005. Our utility earnings increased by $0.06 per share, largely due to higher electric margin which increased earnings by $0.09 per share; higher short-term wholesale margins, which increased earnings by $0.01 per share; and other items that together increased earnings by about $0.03 per share. These positive factors were partially offset by higher utility O&M expenses, which decreased earnings by $0.05 per share, and higher depreciation expense, which decreased earnings by $0.02 per share. Our holding company costs and other results reduced earnings by approximately $0.02 per share for the first quarter 2006, which was comparable to a loss of $0.02 per share recorded last year. These costs are largely financing costs at the holding company.
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