So I've been watching Algonquin Power & Utilities (AQN) ahead of their earnings and the setup doesn't look great honestly. Wall Street's expecting EPS to come in at just $0.04, which is down 33% year-over-year. Revenue's projected around $568 million, also down about 2.8% from last year. Not exactly exciting stuff for a power and utilities play.

What's interesting is that analysts have actually gotten a bit more bearish recently - the consensus estimate got revised down 2.86% over the last month. The Most Accurate Estimate is now lower than the broader consensus, which suggests the latest intel from covering analysts isn't super positive. The Earnings ESP is sitting at -7.69%, which typically means the actual number could miss expectations.

On the flip side, AQN does have a Zacks Rank of 2, so it's not completely written off. And looking back, they actually beat by 50% last quarter ($0.09 vs $0.06 expected), so they've got some history of surprising to the upside. But this time around, I'm not holding my breath. The combination of negative ESP and the broader power and utilities sector headwinds makes this a tough call for an earnings beat.

Bottom line - this is one of those situations where you need to watch what management says on the call more than just the raw numbers. The power and utilities sector can be tricky because earnings misses don't always tank the stock if the company's got solid guidance. But based on what we're seeing now, I'd probably sit this one out unless something changes.