CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP) stock analysis
CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP) clears 5 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 0 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 2 of 5 Lynch-style checks. A free-cash-flow DCF does not fit utilities companies, so no margin of safety is shown. Its earnings quality rates Strong. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does CenterPoint Energy do?
CenterPoint Energy is a utility holding company that delivers electricity in Texas and natural gas in several states.
What stands out about CenterPoint Energy?
- Misses 1 of the 8 value filters. It fails PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.51); the other 5 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Weakest against peers: net margin. At 5.7% (peer median 14.1%) it ranks 30th of 31 among utilities stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Insiders have been buying. 1 open-market purchase was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the last 90 days, about $0.5 million in all. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
- Short interest is elevated. 7.3% of the float is sold short, 7.2 days to cover, above this site's 5% flag. See the figures.
How has CenterPoint Energy's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is CenterPoint Energy undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) n/a (Utilities)
- P/E vs. its own history 24.1x · at/above its priciest point Real range: 11.5x–23.9x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 3.67/5 24 analysts this month: 4 strong buy, 8 buy, 12 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Down from 3.70 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) n/a (Utilities)
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · 1 watch Beneish M-score −2.57 · accruals −3.2% of assets · 285% of profit arrived as cash · share count +1.8% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) 2.1% gross Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.1% + buybacks 0.0%. Stock comp is not reported in its filings, so no net figure. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count rose 53%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $23.96 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 5% return on capital Operating profit $1.0B → $2.0B, capital needed $14B → $36B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 5% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 2.51 · Well above fair P/E 24.1× ÷ 9.6% a year of growth behind it. 287th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 1 of 4 · misses capital-light, cash back (n/a), price Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.9×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cannot be measured (stock comp not reported); Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 2.51, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Munger's Inversion Check 1 flag
- Standing vs. sector peers 0 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 30 other utilities stocks this site tracks: 0 in the top third, 5 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does CenterPoint Energy compare with its peers?
0 of 6 measures sit above the median of the 30 other utilities stocks tracked here, 5 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 21.2× 24.1× ✕25th of 31
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 10% 10% –18th of 31
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 14.1% 5.7% ✕30th of 31
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 7.5% 1.4% ✕28th of 31
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 1.77 2.10 ✕25th of 31
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 3.01% 2.19% ✕27th of 31
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and CNP doesn't clear enough of it yet. Where it comes up short: CNP isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want, is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now, and trades rich relative to owner earnings, the real cash the business could pay out.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✕
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and CNP falls short of his bar. In its favor: CNP is growing earnings at the steady 10-20% pace of a proper Stalwart, and isn't asking investors to overpay for that growth. Where it comes up short: CNP fails his signature PEG test, he'd call this pricey for the growth on offer, carries more debt than he liked to see, even allowing for the extra room a large, stable business gets, and isn't generating free cash flow to match the growth story.
- PEG < 1 ✕
- EPS growth 10%-20% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✕
- P/E < 27 ✓
- Price/FCF < 30 ✕
- Bonus: insiders buying (90d) 1 buy, ~$0.5M
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does CenterPoint Energy pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $26.9B
- Trailing P/E < 25 24.07
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 2.51
- Price/Book < 8 2.29
- Price/Sales < 7 3.57
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +21.0%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is CenterPoint Energy's margin of safety?
A standard free-cash-flow DCF doesn't fit how utilities companies report cash flow.
Where is CenterPoint Energy in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in CenterPoint Energy?
48,300,545 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with CenterPoint Energy? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case n/a (Utilities)
- Short interest under 5% of float 7.3%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 5/6 passed
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have CenterPoint Energy shareholders gained per year?
Not enough clean earnings history to compute this for CNP yet - a loss year in the window breaks the growth math rather than faking a number through it.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from CNP's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do CenterPoint Energy's 10-year financials show?
From CNP's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about CenterPoint Energy
What kind of company is CenterPoint Energy?
CenterPoint Energy is a utility holding company that delivers electricity in Texas and natural gas in several states. This site groups it with Utilities stocks.
Why does CenterPoint Energy have no margin of safety on this site?
This site's DCF values a company from its free cash flow, and that does not fit regulated utilities, which reinvest nearly all of their operating cash flow, so free cash flow per share is tiny next to the share price. So CNP gets no margin of safety; judge it on the other checks on this page, such as its filters, shareholder yield and ranking against its peers. The method is in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does CenterPoint Energy pass?
CNP passes 5 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($26.9B), Trailing P/E < 25 (24.07), Price/Book < 8 (2.29), Price/Sales < 7 (3.57) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+21.0%). It misses PEG Ratio < 1.5 (2.51). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Are CenterPoint Energy's insiders buying its shares?
Yes: 1 open-market insider purchase of CenterPoint Energy shares, worth about $0.5 million in total, was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the 90 days up to this page's last update. Only open-market purchases count here, not option exercises or stock awards. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
When does CenterPoint Energy report earnings next?
CenterPoint Energy's next earnings report is expected on October 27, 2026 before the market opens, with analysts expecting earnings of $0.50 per share. Dates come from the Finnhub earnings calendar and can move. In its last 4 quarters it beat the estimate 2 times, by an average of +4.3%.
How heavily is CenterPoint Energy stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 7.3% of CNP's float was sold short (48,300,545 shares, 7.2 days to cover), up 3.5% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: CenterPoint Energy's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 19, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this CenterPoint Energy Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on CenterPoint Energy Inc (CNP) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.