Questar Corp., which operates the utility that provides natural gas to most Utah homes and businesses, is projecting it will earn $1 to $1.05 per share for its 2010 fiscal year.

Chief financial officer Martin Craven offered that guidance during a conference call Wednesday in which the Salt Lake City-based company reviewed financial results for the second quarter ended June 30.

“If we execute, we believe we can grow net income at mid-to-higher single-digit rates over the next five years,” Craven said.

For its second quarter, Questar reported net income of $28.7 million, or 16 cents per share, a 13 percent decline from the same period a year earlier. That included a $7.1 million charge equivalent to 4 cents per share associated with the June 30 spinoff of QEP Resources into a separate corporation.

Excluding the charge, net income rose 8.4 percent, to $35.8 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $33 million, or 18 cents per share, reported in the same quarter a year ago.

“All business units are performing in line with or ahead of our expectations,” Ron Jibson, the company’s president and CEO said during the conference call with securities analysts and investors.

With the spinoff of its nonregulated oil and gas exploration and production businesses into a separate entity operating under the QEP Resources banner, Questar Corp. has returned to its roots as a Rocky Mountain-based integrated natural gas company, he added.

“We are off to a good start. We offer a low-risk investment and strong natural gas fundamentals. And we intend to translate that into dividend growth and a superior return proposition for our investors.

Questar now has three operating units — Questar Gas, Questar Pipeline and Wexpro.

Questar Gas, the company’s natural gas utility, reported a loss of $2.2 million in the second quarter, $200,000 more than in the second quarter 2009.

“Remember, though, that Questar Gas typically generates all of its annual net income in the first and fourth quarters of each year and reports a seasonal net loss in the second and third quarters,” Craven said.

Questar Pipeline’s net income grew 6 percent, to $15.9 million, compared to $15 million in the same quarter a year ago. And Wexpro, which produces about half of the natural gas Questar’s utility delivers to its residential and business customers, earned $22 million, an 11 percent increase over the $19.8 million it earned in the second quarter 2009.

In a report released a week ago, JP Morgan analysts Xin Liu and Ashwin Ravikumar noted that all of Questar’s subsidiaries are either regulated utilities or utility-like assets that generate stable cash flow without direct natural gas exposure.

They said the company’s operations promise good returns and growth potential, while adding that they think the company’s stock price of around $16 per share appears fair.

steve@sltrib.com