CenterPoint Energy Inc

Twelve of the 16 S&P 500 utility companies that reported quarterly results this week surpassed earnings expectations, while 10 beat revenue forecasts and six missed. CenterPoint Energy raised its 10-year capital investment plan by $1.2 billion to $66.7 billion, citing rising power demand in Houston. FirstEnergy forecast 25 gigawatts of total data center demand and reaffirmed its $36 billion five-year plan. Exelon lowered its high-probability data center pipeline to 11 gigawatts from 18 gigawatts and cut its overall future pipeline through 2027 to 25 gigawatts from 43 gigawatts. American Electric Power missed earnings estimates but raised its full-year 2026 operating earnings guidance, and Dominion Energy reaffirmed its 2026 guidance while targeting the final turbine for its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project by the end of 2027 at a cost estimate of $11.65 billion.

National Fuel Gas Company reported third-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.54 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47 by 4.8 percent, though earnings declined 6.1 percent from $1.64 a year ago. Total revenues rose 1.1 percent to $537.5 million, missing the consensus of $564 million, with utility revenues up 5.1 percent to $165.42 million, pipeline and storage up 2.3 percent to $69.56 million, and integrated upstream and gathering down 1.3 percent to $302.52 million. Operating income fell 9.3 percent to $208.9 million as total operating expenses increased 8.9 percent, and Seneca's natural gas production dropped 7 percent to 104.3 billion cubic feet. The company lowered its fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $7.40 to $7.60 per share from the prior $7.45 to $7.75, cut production guidance to 420 to 430 billion cubic feet, and raised capital expenditure guidance to $1 billion to $1.08 billion. National Fuel also completed financing for its $2.62 billion acquisition of CenterPoint Energy's Ohio natural gas utility, which is on track to close October 1, 2026, and increased its annual dividend by 4 percent to $2.22 per share.

CenterPoint Energy raised its 10-year capital investment plan by $1.2 billion to $66.7 billion and reaffirmed its full-year 2026 non-GAAP earnings guidance of $1.89 to $1.91 per share. The company reported second-quarter GAAP earnings of $0.37 per diluted share and non-GAAP earnings of $0.40 per share, with the midpoint of the annual guidance representing about 8% growth from 2025 results. The capital plan increase includes $800 million for system upgrades tied to more than 14 gigawatts of eligible large-load projects in Texas and $400 million for the Downtown Houston Revitalization Project. Management said the Texas projects could generate over $5 billion in customer savings over 10 years and roughly $6 million per gigawatt per month in demand-charge cash flow as new load comes online, while the revised plan does not require additional equity financing.

CenterPoint Energy's board approved a quarterly dividend of US$0.24 per share, up US$0.01 from April's payout, payable on September 10, 2026, to shareholders of record on August 20, 2026. The increase aligns with the company's 6% annual dividend growth target and is supported by an upgraded earnings outlook, reflected in a Zacks Rank #2 and slightly higher consensus earnings estimates. Management's narrative projects $11.4 billion in revenue and $1.6 billion in earnings by 2029, requiring 6.7% yearly revenue growth and about a $0.5 billion earnings increase from $1.1 billion today. However, higher interest costs on roughly US$3.4 billion of net new debt could pressure margins, and the key near-term swing factor remains how quickly regulators allow CenterPoint to recover its spending and avoid prolonged regulatory lag.

Texas has become the epicenter of America's AI data center boom, with ERCOT projecting electricity demand could approach 368 gigawatts by 2032, driven almost entirely by AI and data center load. Vistra Corp., the largest competitive generator in the state, has signed 20-year power purchase agreements with Meta for more than 2,600 megawatts of nuclear output and a separate 20-year, 1,200-megawatt nuclear supply deal tied to its Comanche Peak plant. NRG Energy closed a $12 billion acquisition of LS Power's generation portfolio, doubling its capacity to about 25 gigawatts, and has signed a 295-megawatt supply deal to power two Texas data centers with an option to expand to 1 gigawatt. Energy Transfer LP began flowing natural gas to Oracle's data center campus near Abilene in January, the first of agreements to supply up to 900 million cubic feet a day across three Oracle sites, and says it has inked agreements for more than 6 billion cubic feet a day in new demand-pool volumes over the past year. CenterPoint Energy now has 12.2 gigawatts of firmly committed new industrial load in its Houston territory, up 63% from one quarter earlier, and expects to energize 8 gigawatts of data center load by 2029. Fermi Inc., a nine-month-old pre-revenue company co-founded by former Texas Governor Rick Perry, is planning an 11-gigawatt grid-independent power and data center campus called HyperGrid outside Amarillo, with supply deals including Energy Transfer for gas to its first phase of generation.

CenterPoint Energy is expected to report second-quarter 2026 earnings per share of $0.38, a 31% increase from $0.29 in the same quarter last year. The Houston-based utility holding company has a market capitalization of $28.8 billion and operates through Electric, Natural Gas, and Corporate and Other segments. For the full fiscal year 2026, analysts project EPS of $1.91, up 8.5% from $1.76 in fiscal 2025, with further growth of 8.9% to $2.08 expected in fiscal 2027. CenterPoint's stock has risen 19.7% over the past 52 weeks, underperforming the S&P 500's 20.7% gain but outpacing the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF's 9.3% return. Analysts rate the stock a Moderate Buy, with nine Strong Buy and ten Hold recommendations, and an average price target of $46.12, implying 5.5% upside.