What NextEra Energy (NEE) Said on Its Q3 Earnings Call

Key Points

• NextEra Energy reported strong earnings growth, with third-quarter adjusted EPS up 9.7% year over year and the company targeting the high end of its full-year guidance range of $3.92 to $4.02.
• FPL continued to benefit from customer growth and significant capital investment, while raising its forecast for large-load demand to 8 GW by 2032 and citing strong hurricane-restoration performance from hardened and smart-grid infrastructure.
• NextEra Energy Resources added 3.7 GW of renewable and storage projects to its backlog, which reached nearly 36.7 GW, while the company reaffirmed long-term EPS and dividend-growth targets and expects its Dominion Energy combination to close in the second half of 2027.

NextEra Energy NYSE: NEE reported third-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings-per-share growth of 9.7% from a year earlier and said it remains positioned to target the high end of its full-year adjusted EPS guidance range of $3.92 to $4.02.

For the first nine months of 2026, adjusted EPS rose 9.5% year over year, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer John Ketchum said during the company’s earnings call. He attributed the performance to continued execution at Florida Power & Light, or FPL, and NextEra Energy Resources.

“America needs more electrons on the grid,” Ketchum said, describing affordability, reliability, scale and speed to market as central priorities amid rising electricity demand.

FPL Reports Customer Growth and Storm-Grid Performance

FPL’s earnings per share increased by $0.06 from the prior-year quarter, driven principally by approximately 9.2% year-over-year growth in regulatory capital employed, Chief Financial Officer Mike Dunne said. FPL spent approximately $2.4 billion on capital expenditures during the quarter and expects full-year capital investments of about $12 billion.

Third-quarter retail sales at FPL increased 2.8% year over year due to customer growth and weather. On a weather-normalized basis, retail sales increased 1.4%, also driven by customer growth.

Ketchum also discussed FPL’s response to Hurricane Isaias, saying the utility assembled a restoration workforce of approximately 17,000 people from 29 states. FPL restored power to more than 97% of affected customers by Tuesday after the storm exited its service area early Saturday, he said.

The company said early forensic analysis showed that none of its hardened transmission or distribution poles failed during the storm. Underground neighborhood lines performed approximately 14 times better than overhead lines, while smart-grid technology avoided about 140,000 outages, according to Ketchum.

FPL’s typical residential bill is approximately 37% below the national average and is projected to rise an average of 2% annually through the end of the decade, Ketchum said. He added that the utility’s non-fuel operations and maintenance expense is more than 70% below the industry average on a dollar-per-megawatt-hour basis.

FPL raised its expectation for large-load demand to 8 gigawatts by 2032 from 6 gigawatts previously and remains confident it can announce a large-load transaction before year-end. FPL President and CEO Scott Bores said the company has more than 20 GW of large-load interest in its pipeline, though the projects involve complicated, multibillion-dollar agreements.

Energy Resources Adds 3.7 GW to Backlog

NextEra Energy Resources reported adjusted earnings growth of approximately 13% year over year, contributing an increase of $0.06 per share. New investments, including federal hubs, contributed $0.09 per share, while the existing energy portfolio added $0.05 per share, Dunne said.

The stronger existing-portfolio contribution reflected more normalized wind conditions. Wind resource was approximately 101% of the long-term average during the third quarter of 2026, compared with 90% in the same quarter of 2025.

Energy Resources added 3.7 GW of renewable and storage projects to its backlog during the quarter, including 2.4 GW of battery storage. Its backlog reached nearly 36.7 GW after accounting for more than 1.8 GW of projects placed into service since the prior earnings call.

• The company said it has added more than 15 GW to its backlog in the past 12 months.
• Energy Resources has now completed more than two-thirds of the midpoint of its 2026-to-2029 development expectations.
• The business has 17.6 GW remaining to add before reaching the midpoint of its backlog-development expectations for that period.

Ketchum said Energy Resources has advanced more than 20 GW of large-load projects, including more than 18 GW of gas-fired generation. The company expects to derive value through federally supported hubs, where it would earn development, construction and operating fees without investing capital, and through projects it expects to own and operate.

Energy Resources has signed definitive agreements for three projects in Texas and Pennsylvania totaling approximately 16.5 GW. Those projects have secured $5.7 billion in initial funding year to date, according to Ketchum. The company expects the projects to begin serving significant load through behind-the-meter generation as early as 2028 and 2029, with full campus requirements ramping between 2030 and 2032.

Dunne said federal-hub payments are expected to be relatively modest in 2026 and 2027 before rising as projects advance. Operating fees from 2032 through 2052 are expected to generate roughly half the earnings per share that Energy Resources would receive if it owned the facilities, Ketchum said.

Nuclear, Transmission and Recontracting Updates

NextEra said its Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa remains on track to return to service no later than the first quarter of 2029. During the quarter, the company closed on a Department of Energy loan of up to $1.9 billion to support the plant restart.

The company also executed a 20-year power purchase agreement for approximately 1 GW from its Point Beach nuclear plant in Wisconsin, subject to approval by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. The agreement would extend contracting for the facility’s full output into the 2050s. Ketchum said Point Beach’s contribution under the new contract is expected to average roughly $0.21, with the new agreement taking effect as existing contracts roll off from 2031 through 2033.

In renewable recontracting, NextEra said it executed contracts for more than 250 MW of existing projects during the quarter. Its year-to-date renewable recontracting total reached nearly 1,400 MW, with pricing averaging roughly $20 per megawatt-hour above recent realized pricing for those projects.

The company said its regulated and invested capital, plus secured capital expenditures for electric and gas transmission, increased about 25% since December 2025 to approximately $12.7 billion. Dunne said NextEra continues to expect 20% to 25% compound annual growth in transmission rate base from 2025 through 2032, with gas-transmission opportunities representing a potential additional avenue for growth.

Guidance and Dominion Combination

NextEra reaffirmed its expectation to grow adjusted EPS by more than 8% annually through 2032 from a 2025 base of $3.71 per share and to target the same growth rate from 2032 through 2035. The company expects average annual operating cash flow growth from 2025 through 2032 to be at or above its adjusted EPS growth rate.

The company also reaffirmed plans to grow dividends per share by roughly 10% annually through 2026 from a 2024 base, followed by approximately 6% annual growth from year-end 2026 through 2028.

Regarding its pending combination with Dominion Energy, Ketchum said shareholders of both companies approved the transaction on Sept. 3. Regulatory hearings in Virginia and South Carolina are scheduled for November and December, with final orders expected in January 2027. North Carolina expert-witness hearings are scheduled to begin in February 2027.

NextEra continues to expect the combination to close in the second half of 2027. Ketchum said the company has proposed commitments in Virginia involving customer bill credits, bill-assistance funding, workforce development, supplier spending and job creation, while noting that regulatory authorities will determine whether to approve the transaction.

About NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE)

NextEra Energy, Inc is an energy infrastructure company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida. Through its businesses, the company generates, transmits, distributes and sells electricity, with a focus on regulated utility operations and clean energy development.

Florida Power & Light Company, NextEra Energy's principal regulated utility, serves customers across much of Florida. FPL operates electric generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure and provides retail electricity service to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

NextEra Energy Resources develops, owns and operates renewable energy and energy storage projects, including wind and solar facilities.

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