I'm typically exploring in relatively undefined creative spaces, and I've found that that usually requires at least 2, no more than 3 concepts to deliver to narrow down to 1. After that point, presenting 1 design vs several is important to save yourself (and client) time and sanity.

In my early years, I was burned often by stakeholders wanting to cherry pick pieces from several designs to create a frankenstein'd design.

Always helps to have more options in the back pocket to justify design choices if the stakeholder gets real pushy.