WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) reported first-quarter financial results on Tuesday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
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The full earnings call is available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/951468178
Summary
WEC Energy Group reported first quarter 2026 earnings of $2.45 per share, marking a solid start to the year with a focus on execution, financial discipline, and operating efficiency.
The company is on track to meet its 2026 earnings guidance of $5.51 to $5.61 per share, assuming normal weather conditions, and expects long-term earnings per share growth of 7-8% annually from 2026 to 2030.
Strategic initiatives include significant investments in data centers in Wisconsin, with Microsoft and Vantage Data Centers as key partners, and plans to invest $37.5 billion over five years to meet growing demand.
Recent regulatory updates include the approval of a VLC tariff structure by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, which is expected to support economic development and protect financial health.
Operational highlights feature the extension of Oak Creek units’ operating lives to ensure reliability and affordability, alongside ongoing construction of solar, battery storage, and natural gas facilities.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
It. Good afternoon and welcome to WEC Energy Group’s conference call for first quarter 2026 results. This call is being recorded for rebroadcast and all participants are in a listen only mode at this time. After the presentation, the conference will be open to analysts for questions and answers. In conjunction with this call, a package of detailed financial information is posted@wecenergygroup.com A replay will be available approximately two hours after the conclusion of this call. Before the conference call begins. Please note that all statements in the presentation other than historical facts are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that are subject to change at any time. Such statements are based on management’s expectations at the time that they are made, in addition to the assumptions and other factors referred to in connection with the statements. Factors described in WEC Energy Group’s latest Form 10K and subsequent reports filed with the securities and Exchange Commission could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated during the discussions. WEC Energy Group’s earnings per share will be based on diluted earnings per share unless otherwise noted. And now it’s my pleasure to introduce Scott Lauber, President and Chief Executive Officer of WEC Energy Group.
Scott Lauber (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today as we discuss our results for the first quarter of 2026. Here with me are Shaw Liu, our Chief Financial Officer, and Beth Stracha, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. As you saw from our news release this morning, we reported first quarter 2026 earnings of $2.45 a share. We’re off to a solid start to the year. Our results reflect our continued focus on execution, financial discipline and operating efficiency. Just a couple of weeks ago, we received an oral decision from the Wisconsin Commission on the Tariff we proposed for Very large customers, or VLCs. We believe this decision solidifies our future growth and protects all customers and shareholders by making sure data centers pay their full share. I’ll provide more information on that shortly. We’re on track to deliver results in line with our 2026 earnings guidance of $5.51 to $5.61 a share. This of course, assumes normal weather for the remainder of the year. In a few minutes, Shaw will walk through our financial results and outlook in more detail. But first let me highlight the strong economic growth in our region that’s the foundation of our robust capital plan. We continue to see significant economic development in Wisconsin. Just last month, Microsoft brought its first data center online in Mount Pleasant ahead of schedule and construction continues at the site. As a reminder, Microsoft has purchased more than 2,200 acres to date in the I94 corridor south of Milwaukee. We are preparing to serve forecasted demand of 2.36 gigawatts in this region through 2030 with opportunity for further expansion. And to the north of Milwaukee, you’ll recall that Vantage Data Centers has signed on to develop facilities for Oracle on approximately 1900 acres. Vantage continues to work on the initial phase of its data center project which is planned for 670 acres. Vantage has stated that that is expected to invest $15 billion to complete this phase in 2028. Construction continues and the first facility could come online late in 2027. We currently have 1.3 gigawatts of demand for this Vantage site in our forecast over the next five years. Looking to the future, this site has the potential to reach 3.5 gigawatts of demand over time and there’s other other notable growth in the state. As a recent example, Milwaukee Tool has announced plans to further expand its campus in our territory, including a new research and development facility. Waukesha Engine also announced plans to expand upon its local operation and employee base. In addition, we’re starting to see good housing development. In fact, realtor.com recognized Racine county, home of the Microsoft site, as one of the nation’s hottest housing markets. We’re committed to meeting the growing demand across our service areas as we invest in our system for increased capacity and reliability. Our five year capital plan includes $37.5 billion of projected investments. It’s based on projects that are low risk and highly executable with a good portion dedicated to the very large customers. In total, by the end of 2030, we expect approximately 15% of our asset base to be attributable to these very large customers. As you recall, we project long term earnings per share growth of 7 to 8% a year on a compound annual basis between 2026 and 2030. This is based on the midpoint of our 2025 adjusted guidance. We expect that growth rate to accelerate to the upper half of the range starting in 2028. Now let me give you an update on our capital projects. This March we had a solar facility go into service with total capital of about $225 million. The Wisconsin Commission has approved the purchase of three additional solar projects and a battery storage project. In total, we plan to invest approximately $730 million in these newly approved projects. Construction continues on the new natural gas facilities in Paris and Oak Creek, Wisconsin. We have our labor force and supply chain lined up to bring these projects online according to schedule. We expect the Paris Rice units in the Oak Creek combustion turbines to start coming online in late 2027. Also at our Oak Creek site, we recently announced plans to extend the operating lives of units 7 and 8. We expect to have units available to meet high energy demand periods through 2027 rather than retiring them at the end of this year. The decision is based on two critical factors, reliability and affordability for our customers. Overall, we have a highly a high level of confidence in our ability to execute on our capital plan and continue our growth trajectory. Now turning to the regulatory front, first let’s update you on Wisconsin and our VLC tariff. After completing its review, the Public Service Commission verbally approved the tariff structure on April 24th. We expect the written order in the few weeks. As a reminder, this tariff provides a balance approach reliable electric service for our very large customers with a predictable cost profile, protection of other customers from bearing any cost to serve these very large customers, protection of the company’s financial health and support for economic development and growth in the region. The Commission approved the return on equity in the range of 10.48 to 10.98% and the equity ratio of 57% for our non VLC customers. On April 1, we filed rate requests with the Wisconsin Commission for forward looking test years 2027 and 2028. Our proposed plans would help us continue to strengthen key infrastructure and deliver the energy our customers depend on while remaining focused on affordability for our customers. We expect final orders by the end of the year with new rates effective in January 2027 and 2028. And in Illinois, just last week we filed a proposed settlement with the Illinois Commerce Commission. If approved, these agreements will resolve all open proceedings related to the customer’s uncollectible and QIP riders. As you recall, we filed a rate request for our Illinois utilities in January for test year 2027. A key driver of this request is support the Pipe Retirement Program in Chicago. The Illinois Commerce Commission continues to review our filing. We expect the decision by the end of the year. In summary, we remain focused on executing our capital investment plan. Now I’ll turn things over to Shah.
Shah Liu
Thank you Scott. Our first quarter 2026 earnings of $2.45 per share reflects an 18 cent increase compared to the first quarter of 2025. Our earnings package includes a comparison of first quarter results. On page 12, I’ll walk through the significant drivers. Starting with our utility operations. Earnings were $0.17 higher versus the first quarter of 2025. Let me highlight a couple of key drivers. Weather negatively impacted quarter over quarter earnings by approximately $0.02 compared to normal conditions. We estimate that weather had a $0.01 negative impact in the first quarter of 2026 versus a $0.01 positive impact for the same period in 2025. Rate base growth contributed $0.17 to earnings, including $0.09 of incremental AFUDC equity from projects under construction. Day to day O&M was $0.05 favorable in the first quarter. This includes a $0.02 gain from a planned asset sale in Illinois during first quarter this year. The rest of the favorability was largely due to the timing of certain maintenance and benefit costs, which we expect to reverse throughout the rest of the year. For 2026, we continue to expect day to day O&M to increase 3 to 5% when compared to 2025 actuals. Next, let me give you some color on our weather. Normal retail electric deliveries excluding the iron ore mine compared to Q1 last year. We saw 1.3% growth this quarter, led by the large commercial and industrial price which grew 3%. This is in line with our forecast for the year. We still expect electric sales to grow around 1.5%. At American Transmission Company earnings increased a penny compared to the first quarter of 2025 as a result of continued capital investment. Turning to our energy infrastructure segment, earnings were $0.04 higher in 1Q26 compared to the same period in 2025, driven largely by higher operating income from WEC infrastructure. WEC Energy Group also benefited from a full quarter of operations from the Hearten 3 solar project acquired in February 2025. Next, you’ll see that earnings from the corporate and other segment increased $0.03 driven by favorable tax timing. In terms of common equity, we locked in about $455 million in Q1 this year. This includes $25 million issued under our Employee Benefit Plan and $430 million via the ATM program under Forward contracts that we will settle in the future. Remember, we expect to issue up to $1.1 billion of common equity this year, so through the first quarter we have accounted for almost half of our expected equity need for 2026 going forward. As a reminder, any incremental capital beyond the current plan is expected to be funded with 50% equity content. Now let me comment on guidance. As Scott mentioned earlier, we are reaffirming our 2026 earnings guidance of $5.51 to $5.61 per share, assuming normal weather for the rest of the year. For the second quarter we’re expecting a range of 76 to 82 cents per share. This accounts for April weather and assumes normal weather for the rest of the quarter. With that, I’ll turn it back to Scott.
Scott Lauber (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you, Shah. Now, as you may recall, our board, that’s January meeting, increased the dividend by 6.7%. This marks the 23rd consecutive year that our shareholders will be rewarded with higher dividends. The increase is consistent with our plan to grow the dividend rate at the 6.5 to 7%. We’re optimistic about continued growth in the region and our company’s future. Operator. We are now ready for the question and answer portion of the call.
OPERATOR
Now we will take your questions. The question and answer session will be conducted electronically. To ask a question, please press the star key followed by the digit 1 on your phone. If you’re using a speakerphone, turn off your mute function to allow your signal to reach our equipment. We will take as many questions as time permits. Once again, press star and then one on your phone to ask a question. Your first question comes from the line Afshar Pereza with Wells Fargo, Please go ahead.
Alex
Hey, good afternoon, everyone. It’s actually Alex on for Char. Thanks for taking our questions. Sounds good, Alex. So just obviously you’re seeing a lot of growth on the data center front. You know, you have Microsoft and Vantage projects and …
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