DUK - Duke Energy swings to Q4 loss on $1.3B renewables writedown

Duke Energy ( NYSE: DUK ) -1.5% in Thursday's trading after edging expectations for Q4 adjusted earnings but swinging to a GAAP loss after booking a $1.3B impairment charge tied to its plans to sell its commercial renewables business.

Duke ( DUK ) said it lost $531M, or $0.71/share, in Q4, vs. a profit of $732M, or $0.93/share, for the year-earlier quarter, while revenues surged 20% to $7.35B from $6.12B a year ago, easily beating analyst consensus estimate of $5.04B.

The company said Q4 results were helped by factors including higher electric volumes, lower operation and maintenance costs, and favorable weather, partially offset by rising interest rates.

After the writedown, Duke's ( DUK ) renewable assets now have a book value of $1.5B-$1.6B, CFO Brian Savoy told Bloomberg.

"If you decide to sell these assets at any point in their life, you're setting yourself up for an impairment," Savoy said when asked whether the company had overvalued the renewable assets on its books .

Duke Energy ( DUK ) shares have lost 5.5% so far this year and 6% during the past year .

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