Eversource Lifts 2026 Earnings Guidance Midpoint To $4.66 A Share As Third-Quarter Profit Slips
The utility narrowed its 2026 range to $4.62 to $4.70 a share and kept its 5% to 7% long-term growth target through 2030.
Eversource Energy, the utility holding company that delivers electricity and natural gas across Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, raised the midpoint of its 2026 recurring earnings guidance to $4.66 per share on Wednesday, even as third-quarter earnings fell to $0.92 per share. The company reaffirmed its 5% to 7% long-term growth target through 2030.
A lower quarter, a tighter range
Third-quarter earnings were $346.0 million, or $0.92 per share, with no adjustments. A year earlier, the company earned $367.5 million, or $0.99 per share, on a standard accounting basis, and recurring earnings were $442.5 million, or $1.19 per share.
The new 2026 range of $4.62 to $4.70 per share narrows the $4.52 to $4.72 range the company set on March 31, according to its earnings slides. The growth target uses the $4.66 midpoint as its base year, and Eversource expects annual earnings growth toward the upper half of that range by 2028.
For the first nine months, earnings were $1.01 billion, or $2.67 per share, versus $1.27 billion, or $3.44 per share, a year earlier. Recurring earnings were $3.52 per share, against $3.64.
Charges behind the nine-month drop
Three items hit the nine-month results. A non-cash charge of $111.4 million, or $0.30 per share, came with the June 30 sale of the Aquarion water business. A $164.0 million charge, or $0.43 per share, reflects higher expected future payments tied to the offshore wind divestiture. A $43.9 million charge, or $0.12 per share, covers estimated refunds after the March 19 FERC decision cut the allowed return for New England transmission owners from 10.57% to 9.57%.
Eversource has appealed that ruling to the D.C. Circuit, which expedited the schedule but denied a stay. The company has proposed a new 11.39% return, and the slides show a rate effective November 30 while FERC's decision is pending.
Gas losses, storm costs and capital plans
Natural gas distribution lost $43.4 million in the quarter, against a $16.8 million loss a year earlier. The company blamed a change in seasonal rate design that shifted revenue recovery, plus higher depreciation. Electric distribution earned $200.9 million, down from $221.6 million, hurt by storm costs that Connecticut regulators disallowed in a July 29 decision. Transmission earned $182.0 million, versus $185.5 million.
The water segment earned nothing after the Aquarion sale. The slides show $26.5 billion of planned capital investment through 2030, $2.3 billion more than the prior five-year forecast.
CEO Joe Nolan called the storm-cost ruling "constructive" and said it gives a "clear path to securitization." Management holds its analyst call Thursday at 9 a.m. Eastern.
Eversource's slides show Connecticut storm-cost securitization targeted for mid-2027 for CL&P and early 2028 for PSNH, with the cash going to debt reduction.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — EVERSOURCE ENERGY (ES) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit tm2628949d1_ex99-1.htm — EVERSOURCE ENERGY 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit tm2628949d1_ex99-2.htm — EVERSOURCE ENERGY 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit tm2628949d1_ex99-3.htm — EVERSOURCE ENERGY 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- Eversource Energy Reports Third Quarter 2026 Results — globenewswire.com
