FirstEnergy Stock Outlook: Is Wall Street Bullish or Bearish?
The utilities giant has notably underperformed the broader market over the past year, but marginally outperformed in 2025. FE stock prices have gained 3.9% over the past 52 weeks and 10.5% on a YTD basis, compared to the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 19% surge over the past year and 10% returns in 2025.
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Narrowing the focus, FirstEnergy has also lagged behind the sector-focused Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund's (XLU) 16.6% gains over the past 52 weeks and 14.2% surge in 2025.
FirstEnergy's stock prices gained 2.2% in the trading session following the release of its mixed Q2 results on Jul. 30. The company's topline has remained under pressure, falling 2.2% year-over-year to $435 million, missing the Street expectations by 1%. Meanwhile, FirstEnergy managed to report a 2% growth in adjusted EPS to $0.52, which surpassed the consensus estimates by two cents.
Since the start of 2025, FirstEnergy has focused on optimizing its efficiency and achieving stable growth. However, the company's efforts haven't yielded any notable improvements in its financial metrics yet.
For the full fiscal 2025, ending in December, analysts expect FirstEnergy to report an adjusted EPS of $2.53, down 3.8% year-over-year. Further, the company has a mixed earnings surprise history. Although it surpassed the Street's bottom-line estimates twice over the past four quarters, it missed the projections on two other occasions.
The stock maintains a consensus 'Moderate Buy' rating overall. Of the 16 analysts covering the FE stock, opinions include six 'Strong Buys,' one 'Moderate Buy,' and nine 'Holds.'
This configuration has remained stable in recent months.
On Aug. 1, Mizuho analyst Anthony Crowdell maintained a 'Neutral' rating on FirstEnergy and raised the price target from $43 to $45.
FE's mean price target of $45.23 suggests a modest 2.9% upside potential. Meanwhile, the street-high target of $48 represents a 9.2% premium to current price levels.
On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com
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