Sempra Reports BIg $; SSJID Moving Ahead?

Sempra turned in strong 4th quarter numbers, subtantially surpassing analysts' earnings projections. Q4 net income more than doubled as profit jumped to $289 million, or $1.10 a share, from $125 million, or 47 cents, a year earlier. Wall Street had been predicting closer to $1.04 EPS.

The company pushed back the go-live date of its LNG plant in Ensenada and announced plans to buy back as much as $2 billion in stock after it completes the sale of its trading business.

In other news, the Manteca Bulletin reports that the eminent domain fight between the South San Joaquin Irrigation District and PG&E was slated to lucrch forward yesterday when the SSJID was to meet in closed session to move the process along. No news yet on what the outcome was, but SSJID appears to be sticking to its guns, motivated by what is reported to be a projected 15% across the board rate cut if the District takes over.

In the same dispatch, the paper notes that "the largest solar farm of its type in the West" is about to go online. The array will produce one MW a day to power a nearby water treatment plant and cut out a half-million-dollar annual bill to PG&E.

Sempra reports strong 4th-quarter earnings [Los Angeles Times]

Water powers SSJID's future [Manteca Bulletin]