NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Entergy Corp. (ETR) on Monday reported a third-quarter loss of $718.2 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.
The New Orleans-based company said it had a loss of $4.04 per share. Earnings, adjusted for asset impairment costs and non-recurring costs, were $1.90 per share.
The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.93 per share.
The power company posted revenue of $3.37 billion in the period.
Entergy expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.50 to $6.10 per share.
Entergy shares have fallen 22 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed 1 percent. The stock has decreased 19 percent in the last 12 months.
Entergy Corp. also announced today it plans to close the James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant on Lake Ontario.
The company says the decision is based on reduced plant revenues due to low natural gas prices, poor market design, and high operational costs.
The company says the facility is losing around $60 million annually.
Barring intervention by state officials, the 850-megawatt facility in Scriba, NY, will shut down in late 2016 or early 2017 and begin laying off its 615 employees.
FitzPatrick began generating electricity in 1975. It produces enough to power more than 800,000 homes.
Entergy is also in the process of decommissioning its Vermont Yankee plant and plans to close its Pilgrim plant in Massachusetts in 2019.
Scriba is about 40 miles north of Syracuse.
