The long-term prospects of alternative energy player Clearway Energy (CWEN)  may still be perplexing but unfortunately, there may be more short-term risk ahead landing its stock a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) and the Bear of the Day.

After widely missing earnings expectations for two consecutive quarters investors may want to curb their enthusiasm for Clearway’s luring 6.34% annual dividend yield amid weak renewable resource conditions and lower natural gas prices.

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Image Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Weak Q3 Results

Notably, the Zacks Alternative Energy-Other Industry is in the bottom 39% of over 250 Zacks industries and Clearway’s Q3 results in November alluded to a tougher operating environment.

While Q3 sales of $371 million topped estimates by 8% earnings of $0.03 a share fell a very concerning -94% below expectations of $0.55 a share. This comes after Q2 earnings of $0.33 a share missed the Zacks Consensus of $0.55 a share by -40% in August.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Weaker Outlook: Largely attributing to Clearway’s strong sell rating, annual earnings estimates for fiscal 2023 are down -10% over the last 60 days while FY24 EPS estimates have fallen -11%.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

On top of this, Clearway’s stock is already down -21% this year to vastly underperform the broader indexes and trail its Zacks Subindustry’s -14%.

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Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Takeaway

While it’s far too soon to call Clearway Energy’s stock a value trap, investors may want to think twice before investing in the company at the moment considering its lucrative dividend yield but poor performance of late.

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