On Friday, Alliant Energy (NASDAQ:LNT) discussed first-quarter financial results during its earnings call. The full transcript is provided below.
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The full earnings call is available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/225617875
Summary
Alliant Energy reported strong first quarter 2026 earnings, achieving approximately 25% of their full-year guidance midpoint despite mild temperatures.
The company announced a new 370 megawatt electric service agreement in Iowa and plans for a simple cycle natural gas facility to support growth.
Alliant Energy reaffirmed its 2026 earnings guidance and expects a compound annual earnings growth rate of 7% plus from 2027 to 2029.
The company secured five data center agreements totaling 3.4 gigawatts of demand, with three projects under construction.
Alliant Energy plans to finance growth with a balanced mix of equity and debt, maintaining a resilient financial profile.
The regulatory framework in Iowa allows for stable electric rates through at least 2030, with large users funding necessary infrastructure.
Management highlighted their strategic focus on economic development, affordability, and long-term value creation.
First quarter 2026 GAAP and ongoing earnings were $0.87 and $0.82 per share respectively, with higher revenue requirements offset by increased expenses.
The company plans up to $800 million in long-term debt issuances for 2026 and has raised $1.3 billion through forward equity agreements.
Alliant Energy’s four-year capital plan is funded through a mix of cash from operations, tax credit monetization, and new financings.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Hello, thank you for holding and welcome to Alliant Energy’s first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines are in a listen only mode. Today’s conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Susan Gill, Investor Relations Manager at Alliant Energy.
Susan Gill (Investor Relations Manager)
Good morning and thank you for joining Alliant Energy’s program for the first quarter 2026 financial results conference Call Joining me today are Lisa Barton, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Robert Durian, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Following their prepared remarks, we will have time to take questions from the investment community. Last night we issued a news Release announcing our first quarter 2026 results and reaffirmed 2026 full year earnings guidance. That release, along with our earnings presentation will be referenced during today’s call and is available on the Investors section of our website at www.alliantenergy.com. before we begin, please note that today’s remarks and responses will include forward looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Those risks are described in last night’s earnings release and in our filings with the securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update these forward looking statements. In addition, this presentation contains references to ongoing earnings per share which is a non-GAAP financial measure. Reconciliation to GAAP results are provided in the earnings release available on our website. At this point, I will turn the call over to Lisa.
Lisa Barton (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you, Sue. Good morning everyone. I appreciate you joining us today. 2026 is off to an excellent start. First quarter ongoing earnings delivered approximately 25% of the midpoint of our full year guidance. Despite very mild temperatures across our service territory, we remain firmly on track to achieve our 2026 earnings targets while executing on our strategic priorities. At Alliant Energy, our focus is straightforward, unlocking the potential of our customers and communities, prioritizing affordability while delivering long term value for investors. As I have shared previously, we remain committed to driving economic development and prosperity across the states we serve. Today I am pleased to share our progress on our 2-4 gigawatts of large load opportunities. In April we executed a new 370 megawatt electric service agreement with a hyperscale customer in Iowa with a full load ramp expected by the end of 2030. To support this growth, we ventured into an agreement with a high quality counterparty to construct a simple cycle natural gas facility. Our third quarter update will include a refreshed Iowa Resource Plan reflecting any incremental load beyond the 3 gigawatts already in our plan, as well as the impact of updated MISO accreditation assumptions. We expect to finance these incremental investments with a balanced mix of equity and debt to maintain a resilient financial profile. We now have five fully executed data center agreements representing approximately 3.4 gigawatts of contracted demand, with three of these projects under active construction. Importantly, we have secured the generation resources needed to reliably serve this load, which represents now more than a 60 percent increase in our current peak demand. And looking ahead, we continue to make strong Progress on the 2-4 gigawatts of future large load opportunities we first announced six months ago. Our commitment has remained consistent, creating wins for existing customers and communities, a win for new customers and a win for our investors. We are strategically positioning our company and the states we serve for sustainable long term growth while keeping customer costs as low as possible. Our approach ensures we remain a trusted partner to customers and communities by delivering reliable, affordable energy solutions that support their long term ambitions. Evidence of this strategy in action shown through last week when we joined the QTS leadership in Cedar Rapids to welcome US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Iowa legislators to tour the site. This $10 billion development, the largest economic investment in Iowa’s history, underscores our role in enabling innovation, job creation and long term economic diversification in the communities we serve. This is the alliant energy advantage, a disciplined, solutions oriented approach to growth. We guide data center customers to low cost transmission ready sites in our service territories. And because our more recent electric service agreements are capacity only, the investments required to serve this load are primarily energy storage and natural gas combustion turbines. This approach creates strong alignments between capital investments and revenue growth while preserving flexibility to serve future energy needs. As demand for capacity and energy continues to evolve, economic growth drives job creation, expands tax base and strengthens communities. It also benefits customers by increasing load which helps us maintain cost cost competitiveness for all customers. As electricity sales grow, we can spread fixed system costs over more kilowatt hours in Iowa. Our regulatory framework enables us to keep base electric rates stable through at least the end of the decade, that is at least four more years of no retail electric base rate reviews in Iowa while earning our authorized return through retaining tax credits and energy margins from new generation investments. A foundational principle of utility regulation is cost responsibility. At Alliant Energy, our policy is clear. Customers driving large incremental demand are responsible for funding the infrastructure required to serve them through individual customer rates. Large users fund transmission interconnections, system upgrades and incremental investments protecting affordability for all customers. In closing, I want to thank our employees. Their dedication and solutions oriented execution are the foundation of our operational excellence and the driving force behind the progress we continue to make. I would also like to recognize the outstanding efforts of our field teams in restoring service for following recent storm activity across our service territory. Despite the heavy storm activity, we achieved strong reliability and safety statistics through the first part of 2026, which is a testament to the quality of the work by the field organization. I will now turn the call over to Robert for details on our financial results, financing plan and regulatory activity.
Robert Durian (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)
Thank you, Lisa Good morning everyone. Yesterday we announced solid first quarter 2026 Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and ongoing earnings of $0.87 and $0.82 respectively. As shown on slide 5. Our ongoing earnings year over year change was primarily due to higher revenue requirements and Allowance for Funds Used During Construction (AFUDC) from capital investments at our Iowa and Wisconsin utilities. These positive drivers were offset by higher operations and maintenance expenses related to new energy resources and planned maintenance at existing generating facilities as well as higher depreciation and financing costs. Temperatures in the first quarter of 2026 reduced electric and gas margins by approximately $0.04 per share compared to a reduction of $0.03 in the prior year. Excluding the impacts of temperatures, electric sales in the first quarter were essentially even year over year. First quarter ongoing earnings exclude a 5 cent benefit from the remeasurement of deferred tax assets reflecting updated state income tax apportionment assumptions driven by higher projected electric utility revenues from commercial and industrial customers, including data centers. We are reaffirming our 2026 earnings guidance with Slide 6 reflecting several of our key 2026 assumptions. Our longer term earnings outlook remains intact and based on our current plan, we expect our compound annual earnings growth rate across 2027 through 2029 to be 7% plus. We will continue to assess our long term earnings growth potential as we execute our data center expansion and update our capital expenditure plans later this year. Turning to financing as shown on slide 7, during the first quarter of 2026 we had parent level and aligned energy finance maturities of $1.1 billion and we retired these maturities with available cash and new debt issuances including a $400 million term loan. Our remaining 2026 debt financing plans include up to $800 million of long term issuances consisting of up to $300 million at WPL and up to $500 million at IPL. We are continuously working to capture low cost capital for new infrastructure investments to help lower costs for our customers and have 2 positive developments at IPL in the first quarter. First, we increased the capacity of our sale of the receivable program at IPL from 110 to $180 million and second, janitor Poor’s upgraded IPL’s credit rating from BBB plus to A minus. As a reminder, our four year capital plan is funded through a balanced mix of cash from operations including proceeds from ongoing tax credit monetization and new financings including debt, IBIT instruments and common equity as shown on Slide 8 of the approximately $2.4 billion of expected common equity needs over the next four years, we have already raised approximately $1.3 billion through forward equity Agreement. These forward Equity agreements take care of planned equity needs through 2027. This leaves approximately $1 billion of remaining equity to be raised through 2029, excluding equity expected to be raised under our …
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