Exelon posts slightly lower 4th-qtr net profit

Chicago-based Exelon Corp, the largest nuclear power operator in the United States, said Wednesday fourth-quarter net earnings fell as a higher Illinois rate settlement charge offset improved margins at its generation unit and increased transmission delivery service revenue for its Illinois utility.

It said net profit was $562 million, or 84 cents per share, compared with $592 million, or 87 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items, Exelon posted a 39 percent rise in earnings. It earned $677 million, or $1.02 per share, up from $487 million, or 72 cents, for the year-ago period.

Analysts on average expected the company to post earnings of $1.02 per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue increased 23 percent to $4.55 billion in the fourth quarter, said Chicago-based Exelon, which owns two regulated utilities and a merchant generation unit that sells power in the competitive wholesale market.

Exelon said it still sees 2008 earnings of $4.00 to $4.40 per share, excluding special items. Net profit is expected to come in between $3.70 and $4.10 per share.

In the past year, shares of Exelon have risen about 22 percent as of Tuesday's close, outpacing the broader Standard and Poor's utility index's gain of about 7 percent.

The S&P utility index posted a life-time high last month, boosted by falling interest rates and a flight to defensive shares. But utility stocks have been hit by recession fears as electricity demand has historically tended to track economic growth.