CenterPoint Energy raises 2026 earnings guidance and lifts capital plan to $70.7 billion

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CNP) reported third-quarter 2026 net income of $331 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, the company said in a filing dated Oct. 27. The electric and gas utility also raised its 2026 earnings guidance and increased its 10-year capital plan.

Non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.53, up from $0.50 a year earlier. The non-GAAP measure excludes items such as mark-to-market changes in exchangeable notes and related securities, and gains or losses tied to divestitures.

Here's how the company did:

• Net income: $331 million vs. $293 million a year earlier
• GAAP earnings per share: $0.50 vs. $0.45 a year earlier
• Non-GAAP earnings per share: $0.53 vs. $0.50 a year earlier
• Revenue: not disclosed in the earnings release

Growth and rate recovery added $0.09 per share compared with the third quarter of 2025. Weather and usage added $0.03, while operations and maintenance expense was flat for the quarter.

Higher financing expenses cut $0.04 per share, reflecting new debt issuances and equity dilution. Other items reduced earnings by $0.05 per share, mainly because the company did not repeat a one-time tax optimization benefit recorded a year earlier.

Nine-month net income was $891 million, or $1.34 per diluted share on a GAAP basis. On a non-GAAP basis, nine-month earnings were $990 million, or $1.49 per diluted share.

In electric operations, total throughput rose 1% from a year earlier, and residential throughput climbed 10%, the supplemental materials showed. Cooling degree days totaled 346 in the quarter, against 80 in the third quarter of 2025.

Natural gas throughput was 94 billion cubic feet, up 1% from 93 billion cubic feet a year earlier.

The company increased its 10-year capital investment plan by $4.0 billion, from $66.7 billion to $70.7 billion. It also accelerated $1.5 billion of investment into 2026 through 2030.

The plan supports a rate base compound annual growth rate of more than 14% through 2030. CenterPoint also kept at least $10 billion of incremental capital investment opportunities through 2035, the release said.

"Beyond today's $4 billion capital plan increase to expand system capacity to accommodate growth, we see at least another $10 billion of additional opportunities to enable system reliability, enhance safety and drive economic development across our service territories," said Jason Wells, Chair of the Board, President and CEO of CenterPoint.

The company raised its 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance range to $1.90-$1.92. It said the range represents nearly 9% growth at the midpoint over 2025 delivered results.

CenterPoint also initiated 2027 non-GAAP EPS guidance of $2.07-$2.09. It said that range represents approximately 9% growth at the midpoint over the increased 2026 guidance.

The company extended its expectation for non-GAAP EPS growth at the mid-to-high end of its 7% to 9% annual range through 2030. A supplemental presentation filed with the report targets dividend per share growth of 6%.

The company completed the sale of its Ohio natural gas local distribution company business on Oct. 1, 2026, and received an initial $1.4 billion of proceeds. The gross purchase price was about $2,620 million, and expected net proceeds were about $2,400 million.

The company also holds a seller's note receivable that earns a 6.5% annual interest rate and matures in September 2027. Proceeds from that note at maturity will fund additional growth investments, the company said.

Moody's trailing 12-month FFO-to-debt ratio was 13.7% as of the third quarter, and Moody's outlook for the company was revised to stable. S&P's comparable ratio was 14.4%.

The company said it has now completed all of its 2026 financing needs. Its credit facility capacity is $4.6 billion, with about $1.1 billion of outstanding borrowings, leaving about $3.5 billion of total available liquidity.

The company plans about $5.6 billion of common equity through 2035. That figure includes about $1.1 billion of forward sales to be settled no later than February 2027.

Controllable operations and maintenance expense was reduced 1% year to date. The company said system reliability improved 40% since 2024, measured by the reduction in customer outage minutes from the 2024 average to a projected 2026 average.

CenterPoint serves nearly 7 million metered customers in Indiana, Minnesota, and Texas. It had approximately $49.5 billion in assets as of Sept. 30, 2026, and about 8,800 employees.

The company filed its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30 and scheduled an earnings call for Oct. 27 at 7:00 a.m. Central time.