Alliant Energy Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Alliant Energy reported Q2 2026 GAAP earnings of $0.65 per share and reaffirmed full-year guidance, with results trending toward the upper half of its range despite milder weather. The company raised its 2026 sales-growth outlook to 2%–3% from 1%. Large-load demand, primarily from data centers, remains a major growth driver. Alliant expects demand to increase 60% by 2031, with Google, QTS and Meta projects advancing and a potential future-load pipeline of 2–4 gigawatts. The utility is progressing with new gas, wind and energy-storage projects while planning up to $800 million in long-term debt issuance through 2026. Management maintained its expectation for more than 7% annual earnings growth from 2027 through 2029. Alliant Energy NASDAQ: LNT said it delivered second-quarter 2026 GAAP earnings of $0.65 per share and reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance, with management saying results are trending in the upper half of the company’s range despite milder weather during the first half of the year. President and Chief Executive Officer Lisa Barton said the utility continues to advance a strategy centered on customer growth, regulatory support, resource planning and execution. The company expects demand to rise 60% by 2031 through five executed electric service agreements with large-load customers, primarily data-center developments. “Despite milder weather during the first six months of the year, we are currently trending in the upper half of our 2026 earnings guidance range,” Barton said. Alliant said three large-load projects are already under construction under commission-approved contracts. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Google has energized transmission service and is expected to ramp demand according to its contracted schedule. QTS is building a seven-building data-center campus in Cedar Rapids, where initial energization of 300 megawatts is anticipated later this year. In Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, Meta has entered vertical construction on its data-center facilities and associated infrastructure. Alliant also recently received approval in Wisconsin for an individual customer rate agreement supporting Meta’s project. The company said QTS remains active on a second Iowa project in Clinton, for which Alliant expects to file an individual customer rate application later this year. The proposed project would represent 900 megawatts of load. Alliant also previously announced a 370-megawatt Iowa data-center agreement and said its future-load pipeline represents between 2 gigawatts and 4 gigawatts of potential demand. Barton said the company’s approach is designed to require new large-load customers to pay their own cost of service, while enabling existing customers to benefit from higher system utilization and economic development. She cited a Brattle Group study that found large electricity users can improve affordability for existing customers when structured appropriately. During the quarter, Alliant amended its Cedar Rapids agreement with QTS to allow for an accelerated load ramp using firm and non-firm transmission service. Chief Financial Officer Robert Durian said the change is not expected to materially alter the company’s capital-expenditure plan, which is already aligned with the planned ramp, but should result in higher revenue in 2027 and 2028. Durian said QTS currently has more than 40 megawatts of load in service. He also said the data-center construction activity in Cedar Rapids is producing broader economic effects, noting that Google and QTS projects together have mo...