Southern Co (1SO) Q3 2026 Earnings Report

The call was strongly positive, with record or accelerating sales growth, large-load and data center demand, strong earnings execution, higher 2026 earnings expectations, substantial economic development activity, customer rate benefits, and expanded capital investment opportunities. The company also reported strong storm response, reliability and financing progress. The principal challenges were higher nonfuel expenses and taxes, share dilution, regulatory and affordability uncertainty, possible data center policy changes, unresolved RFP and nuclear-development timing, and acknowledged upward pressure in generation costs.

Management guided to fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $0.30 per share, which would result in full-year 2026 adjusted earnings of $4.70, or $0.10 higher than the top of its original 2026 adjusted earnings guidance range and representing 9% year-over-year adjusted earnings growth; it expects to refresh its financial outlook through 2031 in February, with an opportunity to potentially raise the upper end of its near-term guidance ranges, supporting a 7% to 8% path starting in 2028 and well into the next decade. The capital plan could potentially approach $100 billion over a 5-year period versus the $81 billion base capital plan, including approximately $4 billion of projected investment above the base plan, with approximately $2 billion of remaining equity need through 2030 and approximately 40% equity or equity equivalents, while the company remains on a path towards 17% FFO to debt by 2029; base rates in Alabama and Georgia are expected to remain flat until at least 2029, and battery storage is expected to be real close to 6,000 megawatts by the end of the decade.