ENTERGY CORP /DE/ Q3 FY2026 earnings call

• Financial & Operational Strength: Reported strong Q3 progress with Adjusted EPS of $1.98. System peak demand reached a record 24,000 MW in August (+2% YoY), with Entergy Mississippi seeing an 11% increase due to data center ramping.
• Customer Growth & Data Centers: Secured a service agreement amendment with Google for its West Memphis campus expansion, adding ~$600M in battery storage investment. This brings total 'Fair Share Plus' bill savings to at least $7.5B across the utility. The pipeline includes 7-12 GW of data center interest and 3-5 GW of traditional industrial discussions.
• Capital Projects & Execution: Completed the Orange County Advanced Power Station (OCAPS) in Texas, delivering 1,200 MW efficiently. Currently have 23 GW of natural gas plants in the queue (10 under construction). Deploying standardized designs, drones, and robotic welding to reduce engineering time by ~50% and mitigate labor/material cost pressures.
• Resilience & Grid Investment: Launched Phase 1 of a $2B accelerated resilience program. Signed natural gas transportation agreements for 1.325 Bcf/day to support new combined cycles. Received $14M DOE grant for dynamic line rating technology on 1,000+ miles of lines.
• Regulatory Milestones: Arkansas rate case settled with essentially no base rate change (9.7% ROE). Louisiana PSC approved the $1.2B Babel to Weber transmission project and extended Entergy New Orleans’ formula rate plan through 2030.

The transcript does not provide a detailed breakdown of financial performance by specific product segment (e.g., generation vs. transmission) with absolute revenue figures or contribution percentages. Management reports consolidated Adjusted EPS of $1.98, driven by growth in residential and industrial sectors, higher depreciation, taxes, and financing costs, and favorable weather conditions.

• 2026 EPS Guidance: Narrowed the guidance range, raising the bottom end by $0.10 per share, driven by hotter summer weather and strong sales growth.
• Long-Term Outlook: Maintained unchanged outlook expecting >8% EPS trajectory from 2027-2030. Added ~$1.5B to capital plans for 2027-2030 (including $600M for Google expansion), moving earnings impact toward the upper end of the outlook range.
• Equity Plan: Target equity ratio remains 10-15% of total capital plan. More than 40% of 2027-2030 equity needs are already contracted.

• Regulatory Delays: Pending decisions in Louisiana (EVES docket, transmission projects) could impact timing of investments and returns.
• Cost Pressures: Industry-wide rising labor and material costs remain a risk, though mitigated by standardization and innovation.
• Execution Risk: Managing scale and schedule for multiple concurrent large-scale generation and transmission projects requires continued operational excellence.

Q: Does the updated four-year CapEx plan fully account for data center deals and clean gen options, and are there other upside moving pieces? / A: CFO Kimberly Fontan clarified that the $1.5B add-on primarily covers the $600M Google battery investment and normal capital puts/takes. It excludes $1.4B in pending Louisiana transmission approvals and future clean energy opportunities selected via RFPs, which represent potential upside beyond the current plan.

Q: Is flat base rates in Arkansas typical going forward, and how does this compare to other jurisdictions? / A: CEO Drew Marsh noted that flat rates are specific to Arkansas due to strong customer growth offsetting costs. In contrast, Louisiana and Texas face significant resilience and growth-related generation/transmission needs not fully covered by data centers, keeping their overall bill trajectory around 4%.

Q: What is the status of self-build capabilities for renewables and CCS, and when might solar investments for META’s EVISTA project come online? / A: Management reported progress in CCS and solar but has no commercial announcements yet. CFO Fontan indicated that solar investments for the EVISTA project would likely occur at the back end of the current forecast period or extend beyond 2030.

Q: How should investors view the 7-12 GW data center and 3-5 GW industrial load pipeline regarding timing within the 2030 horizon? / A: CFO Fontan stated that some load could ramp up within the current plan window, while full assets like new combined cycle units may come online post-2030, extending the current growth rate well into the future.

Q: Are alternative financing tools like private credit expected to impact the near-term outlook? / A: CFO Fontan explained that while recent tools like bill-to-suit leases help expand capacity, most alternative financing impacts are expected to show up outside the current 2030 outlook period, helping own assets over time.