ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $36

ALLIANT ENERGY CORP. $36 (www.alliantenergy.com) sells power and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. The company earned $97.6 million in the first quarter of 2016, up 1.0% from $96.6 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, per-share earnings fell 1.1%, to $0.43 from $0.435 (all per-share amounts adjusted for a 2-for-1 stock split in May 2016). Revenue declined 6.0%, to $843.8 million from $897.4 million. The lower results are mainly due to warmer-than-normal winter weather. That cut demand for gas and electricity for home heating. However, Alliant still expects its full-year earnings will rise between 5% and 7%, to $1.90 a share. The stock trades at a reasonable 18.9 times that estimate. Buy.

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