James Gard: Welcome to Morningstar and to the first stock of the week video of 2023. Today I’m looking at UK energy supplier Centrica. The FTSE 100 company owns British Gas as well as the Rough gas storage facility, which re-opened last year. Morningstar’s European analysts have just put out a list of their top sector and stock picks for 2023 – and Centrica makes the cut. What’s their case for the company? Well, they expect a big increase in earnings per share this financial year, helped by higher energy prices. The company will also receive an earnings boost from the Rough facility re-opening. Centrica is also less affected by rising debt costs than most because of its net cash position.
What are the risks ahead? The company had a great second half of the year in share price terms because of the spike in energy prices. Will this be repeated in 2023? Wholesale gas prices are falling in Europe already. And the UK windfall tax on power generators kicked in at the start of the year. For income investors, Centrica restored its dividend in 2022 after a two-year hiatus but the yield is around 1%. In share price terms, even after last year’ strong run, it’s one of just sixteen UK companies we cover to have a 5 star rating, which means it’s still significantly undervalued. For Morningstar, I’m James Gard.