CNP - CenterPoint soars on plan to sell natural gas utilities

CenterPoint Energy ([[CNP]] +6.5%) sprints to eight-month highs after announcing plans to sell one or two of its natural gas utilities to help fund $3B in planned investments in its electric utility operations.In today's earnings conference call, CEO David Lesar said the company decided to sell gas utilities as part of a business review that was completed in October, adding that the company will reveal details of its sale plans during a Dec. 7 investor day presentation, according to Bloomberg.KeyBanc analyst Sophie Karp upgrades shares to Sector Weight from Underweight based on the company's new strategy to focus on growth for its electric utilities.CenterPoint shares trade higher despite reporting weaker than forecast Q3 GAAP earnings and revenues.

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CenterPoint soars on plan to sell natural gas utilities