The AGL Energy Ltd (ASX: AGL) share price has gained about 15 per cent over the past year.
But recently the company's share price has dropped by almost 7 per cent after hitting $25.64 this month and is now trading at around $23.90.
So has the energy provider lost its gas or is it time to buy?
AGL reported a statutory profit of $539 million for financial year (FY) 2017, up from a loss of $408 million for FY 2016.
It also reported EBITDA of about $1.82 billion and ended FY 2017 with a net debt of about $3.17 billion.
And AGL is expecting to turn an underlying profit after tax of between $940 million and $1.04 billion for FY 2018, which would also result in a significant boost to the company's FY 2017 return on equity which came in at around 10 per cent.
The company, with a market value of about $15.67 billion, also bumped up its dividend per share to 91 cents (80 per cent franked) for FY 2017.
Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) shareholders, on the other hand, have enjoyed much healthier returns over the past year.
Origin's share price has gained more than 40 per cent over the past year and is trading at around $8.58.
The company, with a market cap of about $15.08 billion, is clearly in the same league as AGL in terms of market value.
Origin reported a net profit of $550 million for FY 2017, up by 51% on the previous year's profit of $185 million.
But Origin didn't pay shareholders a dividend for FY 2017 and instead focused on reducing debt which it managed to cut by $1 billion and aims to further reduce its debt to below $7 billion by June 2018, pending the divestment of Lattice Energy.
The company also expects its energy markets underlying EBITDA for FY 2018 to be in the range of $1.7 billion and $1.8 billion, representing an increase of between 14 per cent and 21 per cent on FY 2017's figure.
Another energy provider, AusNet Services (ASX: AST), has seen its share price lift by more than 20 per cent over the past year and is trading at around $1.81.
AusNet this month released its half year results and reported that net profit after tax was up to $203.7 million from the $178.6 million recorded for the corresponding period last year, representing a gain of 14.1 per cent.
While that sounds promising for AusNet shareholders, AGL's projected boost to profits looks particularly impressive.
And while Origin is paying downing debt and AGL is paying out dividends, that's another factor that should count in AGL's favour.
As such, it appears there's plenty of gas in AGL's share price.
