PPL Corporation (PPL) Earnings & Analysis

Latest quarter

PPL reported Q2 FY2026 revenue of $2.1 billion, compared with $2.0 billion in Q2 FY2025, while the consensus counted $2.1 billion of reported revenue against a $2.2 billion estimate. The company’s adjusted EPS, as the consensus counts it, was $0.33, versus the consensus estimate of $0.35.

PPL reported diluted EPS of $0.30, up from $0.25 in the prior-year quarter. The company reported gross margin of 71.7%, compared with 71.4% a year earlier, and operating margin of 22.5%, compared with 20.0% in Q2 FY2025. CFO Joe Bergstein said Kentucky’s segment results were flat as higher retail rates were offset by weather-related lower sales volumes and higher operating, depreciation and interest expense; Pennsylvania results were lower, while Rhode Island results increased. PPL reported free cash flow of −$698.0 million, compared with −$328.0 million in Q2 FY2025.

Adjusted EPS is the figure the consensus estimates, not the GAAP EPS above.

What management said on the call

CEO Vince Sorgi said PPL’s Pennsylvania utility had signed data-center agreements totaling about 32 gigawatts, including more than 11 gigawatts under electric service agreements and more than six and a half gigawatts under construction. He said two data centers began taking utility service during the quarter and are expected to ramp to about two gigawatts of load by 2031.

Sorgi said PPL’s updated probability-weighted projections indicate 3.7 gigawatts of expected new Kentucky load by 2032. He said the demand outlook makes an additional-generation CPCN filing by year-end more likely, although PPL had not determined the precise resource mix. He identified the 266-megawatt Lewis Ridge Pump Storage Project, 400 megawatts of deferred batteries and additional combined-cycle gas generation as potential resources, representing $3.5 billion to $4 billion of potential investment between 2027 and 2032.

On pricing and customer protections, Sorgi said Pennsylvania and Kentucky large-load tariffs require long contracts, upfront collateral and guaranteed payments for at least 80% of reserved capacity. He said the Pennsylvania settlement’s approved $275 million increase became effective July 1, while Rhode Island’s new rates were expected to become effective September 1 following its rate-case process.

Sorgi said PPL was on pace to deploy approximately $5 billion of capital investment in 2026 and continued to project $23 billion through 2029. CFO Joe Bergstein said PPL had deployed approximately $2.3 billion through the second quarter and completed its 2026 financing needs through debt offerings at PPL Electric and Rhode Island Energy.

Analysts asked Sorgi about timing and scale for NVIDIA Energy commercial agreements and its participation in the PJM process. Sorgi said PPL was actively negotiating bilateral agreements and expected one or more commercial agreements by year-end, but he did not quantify their size or specify their announcement timing. He said PPL would not begin construction or make material financial commitments for the joint venture without executed energy supply service agreements with appropriate risk profiles or cost-reimbursement agreements.

Guidance

PPL reaffirmed its FY2026 ongoing-earnings forecast of $1.90 to $1.98 per share, with a midpoint of $1.94 per share. Sorgi said PPL expects stronger earnings growth in the second half of 2026, supported by Pennsylvania and Rhode Island rate-case outcomes. He also reaffirmed PPL’s target of 6% to 8% annual EPS growth through at least 2029.