With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

The 300 companies on this year’s list brought in over $12.6 trillion in revenue for the latest 12 months, with the median revenue figure at $22 billion.

America's Most Innovative Companies

Energy sector dominated this year for the first time since 2008, with 28 companies featured on the list.

100 Fastest-Growing Companies

Industries included in the sector are mining, oil and gas exploration and services, pipelines, refining, and utilities.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Energy

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The corporations on our annual list of the world’s largest companies delivered a record $41 trillion in aggregate revenues.

Fortune Global 500

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

This year’s group delivered stellar revenue and profit growth, but it underperformed the broader stock market.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-333-NRG Energy

The energy company produces and distributes electricity and other utility services to a variety of clients, both residential and commercial, across the country. In May, NRG Energy announced it relocated its headquarters from New Jersey to Houston, and the city has committed to purchasing 100% renewable energy.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500 2020 324 NRG Energy

With headquarters in both Princeton, N.J. and Houston, this energy company serves about 3.7 million residential, small business, commercial, and industrial customers.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

Business insiders have spoken: Asked which companies they most admire, more than 4,100 executives, directors, and analysts chose these top 50 All-Stars.

World's Most Admired Companies

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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NRG Energy has grown into a top power, electricity, and smart home corporation in Texas, the Northeast, the Midwest, and parts of California. With headquarters in Houston, NRG focuses on power generation from natural gas and coal, but the gas side of the business is rapidly growing. In May, NRG agreed to pay $10 billion for 18 natural-gas-fired power plants from LS Power, not including debt, in a move designed to prepare NRG for a domestic power market that’s set to soar. NRG also is focusing more on smart home and security offerings since acquiring Vivint Smart Home in 2023, rather than just selling retail electricity.

Q2 2026

Q1 2026

Q4 2025

Q3 2025

Q2 2025

Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Q3 2024

NRG Energy (NRG): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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NRG Energy

nrg energy

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to your first speaker today, Brendan Mulhern, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, welcome to NRG Energy's fourth quarter and full year 2025 earnings call. This morning's call is being broadcast live over the phone and via webcast. The webcast presentation and earnings release can be located in the investor section of our website at www.nrg.com under Presentations and Webcasts. Please note that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements, which are based upon assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Actual results may differ materially. We urge everyone to review the safe harbor in today's presentation, as well as the risk factors in our SEC filings. We undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of future events, except as required by law. In addition, we will refer to both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures.

For information regarding our non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, please refer to today's presentation and earnings release. I will now turn the call over to Larry Coben, NRG's Chair and Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Brendan, and good morning, everyone. I'm joined today by Bruce Chung, our CFO, and Rob Gaudette, our President. Other members of our management team are also on the line and available to answer questions. Let's begin with the key messages on slide 4. We exceeded the midpoint of our raised 2025 guidance, marking the third consecutive year we increased our outlook and delivered above it. We introduced standalone 2026 guidance in November, updated it in February to reflect 11 months of LS Power ownership, and today we are reaffirming those ranges. We successfully closed LS Power at the end of January. Integration is well underway and performance is already exceeding our underwriting assumptions. With LS Power now closed, we are rolling forward our long-term outlook.

We continue to target at least 14% annual growth in adjusted earnings per share and free cash flow before growth per share, now measured from 2026 through 2030, rather than the previous through 2029. We are maintaining this more than 14% trajectory despite a much higher share price than assumed at the original announcement. This is achieved through higher earnings from both the LS Power portfolio and our legacy businesses. Finally, as demand accelerates across our markets, affordability and reliability will define long-term success. New large loads must bring their own power and contract for the generation that supports them. Flexible demand response must scale alongside that. Otherwise, prices will rise and volatility will increase. NRG is well-positioned to do both and thus meet rising demand across our markets. Let's turn to slide 5, our 2025 financial and business results.

2025 was a record year of performance at NRG. Full-year adjusted EPS was $8.24 per share, and adjusted EBITDA was $4.087 billion, both above the high end of our raised guidance. Free cash flow before growth totaled $2.210 billion or $11.63 per share, above the midpoint of our revised outlook. Turning to our 2025 scoreboard, we delivered against the priorities we outlined at the start of that year. We achieved top decile safety performance for the 10th consecutive year and delivered our 2025 target under our $750 million organic growth plan. We signed 445 MW of long-term data center PPAs at attractive margins.

We secured Texas Energy Fund loans for 1.5 GW of new capacity, with all construction on budget and on schedule. We've launched our Texas residential VPP and finished the year at nearly 10 times our original objective. We also announced the LS Power transaction, which we'll cover in more detail on the next slide. In 2025, we returned $1.6 billion to shareholders through repurchases and dividends, while increasing the dividend by 8% for the sixth consecutive year. Our momentum has carried forward into 2026. During Winter Storm Fern, our Texas fleet achieved 97% in the money availability. Our assets were ready when the grid needed them. That performance reflects investments we have made in the plants in recent years and great work by our amazing people. Turning to slide 6.

Beyond 2025 performance, we strengthened our competitive position with the close of the LS Power portfolio. Our generation fleet has doubled to 25 GW. We added 18 natural gas assets, primarily in PJM, with additional positions in ERCOT, MISO, and ISO New England. The combined fleet is now more than 75% natural gas. Together with our existing generation and projects under development, we are naturally long against our residential load in our core markets. In PJM, several of the newly acquired peaking units provide a potential 1 GW of upgrades through conversion to combined cycle configuration. That adds flexibility to support future large load demand. CPower, a preeminent company in the demand response space, strengthens our capabilities and expands our position in this sector with both commercial and industrial customers. This transaction was immediately accretive, supports our long-term leverage targets, and strengthens our credit profile.

Performance is already exceeding our underwriting assumptions, driven by stronger capacity and energy prices. In addition, 100% bonus depreciation enhances after-tax returns relative to our original modeling. We have expanded our earnings base and strengthened our competitive position as markets tighten. Turning to slide 7, let's discuss our near and long-term outlook. Beginning with 2026, we are reaffirming the guidance ranges introduced in early February following the close of LS Power. Recall that the LS contribution reflects 11 months of ownership, not a full year. In 2026, we will deliver these results embedded in our outlook and integrate the LS Power portfolio. We are also targeting at least 1 GW-plus signed long-term data center power contract under our Bring Your Own Power approach.

Turning to the longer-term framework, we are rolling forward our outlook and continue to target at least 14% annual growth in adjusted EPS through 2030. This extends the prior five-year framework, which ended in 2029, and reflects our expanded earnings base. Consistent with our prior methodology, the outlook assumes flat power and capacity prices across the planning horizon. Detailed assumptions and Texas and PJM price sensitivities are included in the appendix. The plan also now incorporates all three Texas Energy Fund projects rather than one. The first remains on track for June 2026 completion, and the additional twoare expected online by mid-2028. These represent incremental value relative to the prior outlook. The plan also reflects the portion of the 445 MW of previously announced signed data center contracts that are expected to be online during this period.

I must emphasize that the outlook does not assume any additional data center contracts or higher power or capacity prices. Let me repeat that. The outlook does not assume any additional data center contracts or higher power or capacity prices. Beyond what is embedded in this plan, of course, we see significant opportunities to contract new large load natural gas generation under long-term agreements with high-quality counterparties. We have the ability today to support more than 6 GW of long-term power agreements to serve large data center demand. At that level, it represents the potential to add more than $2.5 billion of recurring annual adjusted EBITDA on contracts of up to 20 years. These projects would provide stable, contract-backed cash flows. Discussions are ongoing, so stay tuned. Turning to slide 8, I want to discuss our approach to affordability, which has two primary components.

First, Bring Your Own Power. New large loads should contract directly for the generation that supports them. Data centers must pay for their required capacity additions. Cost and volatility should not be shifted to existing customers. Second, demand response. Flexible demand is an essential complement to our approach. Demand response, including virtual power plants, provides dispatchable capacity when the system is tight. It lowers peak costs and strengthens reliability without adding structural cost to the system. We are executing on this model today. We have more than 6 GW of natural gas generation capacity reserved for customer-backed large load projects, including 5.4 GW through our GE Vernova and Kiewit venture, and 1 GW of uprate potential within the recently acquired LS portfolio. We are also developing new generation through the Texas Energy Fund to support grid reliability.

On the residential side, we are building a 1 GW virtual power plant in Texas and preparing to extend that model into PJM. On the commercial and industrial side, CPower now anchors one of the leading demand response platforms in the country. We built all of these platforms early in anticipation of where markets were heading and what politicians and customers are now saying. It is operating today. As demand expands, this model supports significant growth without compromising affordability or reliability. With that, let me turn it over to Bruce for the financial review.

Thank you, Larry. Starting with slide 10, I am pleased to share that NRG delivered exceptional full-year financial results in 2025. We achieved earnings at or above the high ends of our raised financial guidance ranges, including record-level performance across several key metrics. Our 2025 adjusted EPS was $8.24, and adjusted EBITDA was $4.087 billion, representing an increase of 21% and 8%, respectively, over the prior year. We delivered $1.606 billion of adjusted net income and $2.21 billion of free cash flow before growth. Our robust financial performance in 2025 marks the third year in a row, where excellent execution across our businesses continues to demonstrate the durability of our integrated platform. Moving on for a brief discussion of segment results.

Our Texas segment delivered full-year adjusted EBITDA of $1.877 billion, driven by margin expansion and excellent commercial optimization throughout the year, as well as favorable weather that benefited our home energy volumes. The East segment contributed full-year adjusted EBITDA of $981 million, reflecting a slight decline from the prior year, primarily driven by higher regional retail power supply and planned maintenance costs, and the retirement of the Indian River facility. These impacts were partially offset by strong capacity revenues at our plants, winter weather driving natural gas margin expansion, and continued commercial optimization in both power and gas.

Our West and Other segment provided full-year adjusted EBITDA of $137 million, a modest decline from the prior year, driven by the absence of earnings from the sale of our Airtron business in September 2024, and the lease expiration at the Cottonwood facility in May 2025. These were partially offset by higher retail power margins in the West. The Smart Home business generated full-year adjusted EBITDA of $1.092 billion, driven by record new customer adds and impressive retention rates, in addition to expanded net service margins. Free cash flow before growth for 2025 was $2.21 billion, exceeding 2024 results by $148 million or 7% year-over-year growth.

This year-over-year increase is primarily driven by the strong adjusted EBITDA results, lower interest payments due to the Vivint ring fence removal, and receipt of the remaining insurance proceeds from our WA Parish Unit 8 claims. Turning to slide 11, we are reaffirming the 2026 financial guidance announced earlier this month, which includes 11 months of earnings from our recently acquired generation assets and CPower. Midpoints for our reaffirmed guidance ranges are as follows: adjusted EBITDA is $5.575 billion, adjusted net income is $1.9 billion, adjusted EPS is $8.90 per share, and free cash flow before growth is $3.05 billion. As you can see on the waterfall charts at the bottom portion of the slide, we have made moderate adjustments to the pro forma guidance previously shared on the 3rd quarter call.

The updated adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow before growth disclosures now capture improved pricing and capacity values, in addition to a pre-closing adjustment for January 2026 financial performance for the LS Power assets. You can find more details on the energy and capacity price assumptions we used in the appendix of this presentation. Moving to slide 12 for updates to our capital allocation for 2026. Starting at the left of the waterfall and moving right, our total cash for allocation has increased to $3.05 billion. This includes $2.1 billion from the legacy company, free cash flow before growth midpoint, together with $950 million, representing free cash flow before growth to be contributed by the recently acquired assets from LS Power, prorated to 11 months.

As part of our ongoing commitment to a strong balance sheet, we expect to execute approximately $1 billion toward debt payments throughout the year. As part of the integration for the acquired assets, we expect to spend $123 million of one-time costs to ensure that the assets are appropriately incorporated into our operating and commercial portfolio. We remain committed to our robust return of capital program and plan to return at least $1.4 billion of capital to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and common dividends. Finally, we are allocating the remaining capital to continued investments in our core portfolio, with $310 million allocated toward growth initiatives. This primarily consists of spend for our new generation build in Texas, including Texas Energy Fund proceeds and continued investment in our consumer platform.

Turning to slide 13, we are reaffirming our long-term adjusted EPS and FCFBG per share CAGR of 14%+, while also rolling forward the long-term outlook from 2029 to 2030. As described when we first disclosed the acquisition of assets from LS Power, we have a highly visible path to achieving more than 14% growth in our adjusted EPS and free cash flow before growth per share metrics over the next five years, underpinned by solid business expansion and disciplined capital allocation. Starting on the left side of the page with adjusted EPS, we moved from the original 2025 midpoint of $7.25 to our 2026 updated midpoint of $8.90. This step-up reflected strong underlying business performance, contributions from the LS Power portfolio, and the ongoing benefit of our share repurchase program.

Looking ahead, we are forecasting adjusted EPS of greater than $14 per share by 2030, underpinned by existing growth programs in our core business operations and our robust return of capital program. Shifting to the chart on the right, our free cash flow before growth is similarly increasing on a per-share basis. Starting with the original 2025 guidance midpoint of $11.20, we have increased the midpoint to $14.50 for 2026. By 2030, we expect a further increase to greater than $22 per share, again, delivering compounded annual growth of more than 14%. The core drivers for this per share increase are similar to those for our EPS growth and reflect the strong cash generation capabilities of our platform and a disciplined capital allocation framework.

It is worth highlighting that our long-term outlook holds energy and capacity prices flat through the period. Our energy price assumptions reflect market prices at the end of December 2025. Our PJM capacity price assumptions reflect pricing at the $325 per megawatt day cap for the next two capacity auctions to be held in June and December 2026. Most importantly, this long-term outlook does not include any upside from rising power prices, new data center deals, or the 1 GW CT to CCGT conversion opportunities we have with the acquired LS portfolio. We have provided more details on the assumptions in our long-term outlook in the appendix of the presentation. We have also provided updated power price sensitivity slides so that you can appropriately model the meaningful gearing our portfolio has to rising power prices.

Wrapping up this slide, we believe our long-term outlook represents a de-risked and outsized opportunity to enjoy above-market earnings and free cash flow per share growth, while with meaningful upside levers. I look forward to updating you on our progress in achieving this long-term outlook on future earnings calls. On slide 14, we are refreshing our view of long-term capital allocation. On the left-hand side of the slide, we have updated our 2026 to 2029 view of capital allocation so that you can have an apples-to-apples comparison. Our current forecast represents an impressive 55% increase in capital available for allocation and a 32% increase in share repurchases from our original guidance in 3Q 2024. The current plan allocates 85% of cash available after debt reduction to return of capital, compared to 80% in the original plan.

Moving to the right side of the slide, we have rolled forward our plan to include 2030 cash available for allocation, bringing the total to $18.3 billion of total capital available through 2030. Including the additional year's earnings for 2030, we are increasing our return of capital program to a total of $13.2 billion, comprised of $11 billion in share repurchases and $2.2 billion of common dividends. This represents an increase of $5.3 billion and $800 million for share repurchases and dividends, respectively, relative to the original plan shown in the far left bar of the chart. Forecasted amounts for growth slash unallocated capital for the period increased modestly by $400 million, with most of that increase in the unallocated bucket.

The combination of an improved earnings profile and planned debt reduction of $2.9 billion over this five-year period will ensure that we achieve our targeted credit metric of 3x net debt to EBITDA. Our long-term capital allocation strategy is consistent with our long-stated principles, which prioritize a strong balance sheet and robust return of capital. The significant free cash flow we generate over this period affords a meaningful amount of flexibility to put capital to work accretively. Share repurchases will always remain a strategic component of our annual capital allocation plan. While we've shown much of the capital over the period devoted to share repurchases, we recognize that there may be other very accretive uses of that capital beyond share repurchases, particularly the development of power plants supporting data center contracts under contracts...

Sorry, data centers under contracts of up to 20 years. We will evaluate those opportunities with discipline. Rest assured that any and all of those situations will be measured against our stated hurdle rates of 12%-15% pretax unlevered IRR and the implied return of buying back our stock. In closing, NRG delivered record financial and operational execution through 2025, reflecting the resilience of our platform and the continued momentum across our core businesses. As we look ahead, the 2026 outlook and capital allocation priorities I have outlined highlight the durability of our strategy and our commitment to disciplined growth, prudent liability management, and long-term value creation. With the successful close of the assets acquired from LS Power, we have strengthened and expanded our portfolio.

Integration is well underway, and the addition of these assets into our combined portfolio positions us well for continued growth and execution of our strategic and capital allocation priorities. With that, I'll turn it back to you, Larry.

Thank you, Bruce. Let me close with our priorities for 2026. Demand is accelerating, led by data centers. Our priority is to serve that growth under a Bring Your Own Power framework, securing long-term power agreements that support the new generation required to meet it. We will complete TH Wharton. We will integrate LS Power. We will continue building our virtual power plant platform. Execution and capital discipline remain our lodestar.... We will deliver the financial results embedded in our guidance, return at least $1.4 billion to shareholders, grow the dividend consistent with our framework, and maintain balance sheet strength. As I approach the conclusion of my time as CEO, I want to thank all of our 18,000 employees for their incredible work and commitment, our customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their support.

Over the past 27 months, the NRG team has reshaped the portfolio, strengthened the balance sheet, and positioned NRG to compete and keep winning in a changing power market. We enter 2026 strong, disciplined, and well prepared for this next phase of growth. I look forward to continuing as an advisor and long-term shareholder and to watching this incredible team build on the foundation in the years ahead. This is only the beginning. The best is yet to come. Thank you all for everything you have done. Operator, we're now ready to open the line for questions.

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question-and-answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. First question comes from the line of Shar Pourreza with Wells Fargo Securities. Go ahead. Your line is open.

All right, Larry. Big, big congrats to you and Rob. Terrific transition, and best of luck to both of you on your phase two. Maybe just starting off on the expectation.

Wait, I totally forgot Bruce. Is Bruce still there?

The CEOs are doing such a good job, we forget the CFO sometimes. Bruce, we still love you. I promise you. Congrats on phase one.

Maybe just starting off on the expectations now that the LS Power deal is closed. Can you just expand on commercially contracting the combined portfolio comments you made? $2.5 billion in EBITDA is sizable. I just want to get a sense on timing and structure, including how we should think about which party would be taking on the gas risk in these deals or risk share passed on to the counterparties. Just a little bit of a sense on the structures. Thanks.

Yeah. Look, Shar, I think a little bit, obviously, depending on the hyperscalers, but I think we're looking at, you know, blocks in excess of a gigawatt. I think we're looking at contracts of minimum 10 and frequently 20 years, with investment worth, investment-rated entities that can actually support the kind of credit required to make this happen. You know, we're looking at a significant fixed, price component in that, and so I think you know, you can start seeing these things come on. You know, you can do the math. We've given you the margin, we've given you the capacity numbers, so you can kind of figure out when it comes.

You know, I think the first power, you know, assuming we get to the place we need to get, could be on by the end of, you know, late 2029, and then, you know, ratably, probably 1 GW a year, maybe more, for each year after that.

Got it. Okay. Then just the fuel risk, Larry, I know this is a question we get from a lot of investors, is who actually takes on the gas risk?

The contract that we're working with and the structure that we're, the hyperscalers seem to be okay with, is a very heavy capacity payment, like Larry talked about, and then a variable component where, you know, it turns into basically a heat rate for the hyperscaler. They take the gas risk. If they want to offload the gas risk, I have a gas platform where I can help them do that.

Got it. Okay, perfect. Then just in terms of PJM and the regulatory process, do you guys see FERC PJM directive opening opportunities, you know, for NRG to bring new generation to that market? Would you focus on, you know, the 1 GW of uprates that you noted in the slides, or is there opportunity beyond that, similar to what you're doing in Texas under the TEF? I guess, how attractive is that reserve auction? Thanks.

I mean, look, I think it's attractive, Shar, but I think our focus in PJM, at least initially, will be the 1 GW of uprates. It's just faster and quicker to market, the demand is there for Texas. If somebody were to come to us and say that they wanted it in PJM, obviously, we have the flexibility to do that, but I think that you know, we would focus in PJM on the 1 GW of uprates and probably the other 5.4 outside of PJM.

Got it. This is perfect. I appreciate it, guys. Larry, big congrats. Rob, just do me a favor as you take the spot, just make sure you continue to work Bruce really hard like Larry did. Thanks, guys.

One moment for our next question, please. The next question comes from the line of Julien Dumoulin-Smith with Jefferies LLC. Go ahead. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, team. Larry, Rob, congratulations. Bruce, I swear we will never forget you.

There we go. See you later today. No, with that said, no. No, but with that said, let me come back to a couple of things, right? First off, on the capital allocation, the 14% here, just to break that down a little bit further here, how much latitude do you have in that, in as much as you're not reflecting, I don't believe, the CapEx for the data center? I mean, presumably, you could be foregoing, you know, buybacks in the near and medium-term sense to invest in a longer-term sense in, you know, presumably 2030 and beyond, if you start to pivot into the data center.

Maybe just talk about the latitude that exists within that, that commitment through 2030, you know, against the buyback numbers, and how you could see that shift as you allocate capital. Again, if I understand it right, the first data center here under your targets with GEV, and Kiewit would be a 2029 in service anyway. Conceivably, you'd get some of those cash flows on a run rate basis in 2030. But again, obviously, as you continue to scale up the strategy, you'd need to roll forward that target. Rob, what are you doing an Analyst Day pro forma with all these data centers? That's really the other way to ask that. I'll pass it to you guys.

Yeah. Hey, Julien, just on the buyback question. You know, I mean, I think as we think about the variability in that buyback number, it's probably more on the back end as opposed to the front end. The $1 billion that we're sort of thinking about over the next couple of years is probably pretty set in stone, frankly, from our perspective. We see ample opportunity to be able to fund these projects while still keeping at least a billion-dollar buyback program in place. I don't think there's really any risk on that. Then it's really more about how do we think about the cash flows in the out years, particularly after we've delevered, and how that can be redeployed in some of these, you know, very potentially lucrative projects.

Any sense on returns, though? Maybe that's the other backhanded way to ask this, is, like, how are you thinking about.

what the operate or, and/or new data center counterparty in Texas would look like here?

Yeah, look, I mean, we've always been pretty, you know, very consistent about, and transparent about what our hurdle rate is. It's 12%-15% pretax unlevered, and every project and every dollar devoted to a project is gonna be held against that standard.

Got it. Excellent. I appreciate it. Just if I can keep going slightly further here. As you think about this rollout of VPP, I mean, when would you expand that? I mean, it seems like you're doing very well against it. I mean, I'm curious on how you would think about the economics contributing to the story here. Just in brief. Again, I saw the targets in the longer term.

Yeah, This is Brad speaking. Have been really pleased with the results in Texas. We continue to scale in Texas. We are looking to launch a VPP-like program in the east here early second quarter. That coupled with our relationships with GoodLeap and Sunrun, we continue to scale batteries up. We feel really good about what we've learned so far and well ahead of our targets, as Larry had mentioned, pacing well against the 300 MW number we gave you for 2027.

Fair enough. Still, I'm asking, when do we get a robust Analyst Day? You don't necessarily need to commit today. All right.

Julien, every day with us, Julien, is a robust day.

Love it. Okay. Deal, Larry. Deal. Talk to you guys soon.

One moment for our next question. The next question comes from the line of Nicholas Campanella with Barclays. Go ahead, your line is open.

Good morning. Congrats to Larry and Rob here. Appreciate the time.

Before you ask your question, would you also congratulate Bruce, please?

Look, good questions so far. I just wanted to follow up on Shar's comments and just what's kind of underpinning the 2.5. You know, I think in prior decks, you had this target price for signings above $80 per megawatt hour. Just what are your updated thoughts on, you know, where that figure is now and what's really kind of underpinning the 2.5 here?

Good morning, it's Rob. The, you know, the 80, we adjusted our targets to an 80+ kind of range. As we've talked about them, we've mentioned that, you know, if you're gonna build 1.2 GW of GEV turbines, that number is gonna be on the high end. As you're thinking about how you get in there, you know, think north, you know, of the $90-$95 range, where we were back in our original guidance. It's on the top end. It's got to pay for the equipment, it's got to pay for our return. We're not gonna do a deal unless it does.

Hey, that's helpful. Thank you. Then maybe just understand the share repurchases, if they were going to be affected at all from new build. It sounds like it's more on the back end of the plan, but I guess, you have a strategic advantage on cost and securing these turbines early. I assume they're gonna be projects financed. Just what would your kind of targeted equity contribution be? Would it be in the 20%-30% range? Maybe that's just one way to understand, you know, how that could pressure the buybacks. Thanks.

Yeah. Nick, you know, from our perspective, project financing sometimes it can be great, other times it can be not so great. I think in this particular instance, we really see value in simplicity. We see value in transparency. I don't think you should assume that, you know, project financing is the way that we would go. I think we would probably err on the side of corporate-style balance sheet financing. On that basis, that means you should be thinking about the capitalization for these projects, consistent with what our corporate capitalization would be, which is like that 3x leverage level.

Three times leverage. All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

One moment for our next question. The next question comes from the line of Michael Sullivan with Wolfe. Go ahead. Your line is open.

Hey. Hey, guys. I was just hoping maybe we could refresh a little on what the, you know, the key components of the organic growth beyond 2026? I know you've kinda laid that out in bits and pieces over the last year or so, but can you maybe just frame that up between, like, the TEF, the VPP, some of the other things? What are kind of the core drivers, and then how much of it is the buyback? I know that's become smaller as your stock's done well.

In terms of the components that are driving the, you know, the underlying earnings growth for the business, Mike, first, it's the $750 million growth program that we had announced back in 2023. We are well on the path towards achieving that. We feel very confident that we're going to be able to get there. If you recall, about half of that was from just regular way organic growth in the Smart Home business, underpinned by, like, 6% net subscriber growth. As you saw, we delivered 9% this past year, the team is executing very well in that regard. The other half is really from related growth investments in both the C&I business and the retail energy business.

Again, feel very confident about that 750. The other levers that are embedded in the plan right now are, you know, all three TEF plants. Remember, in the past, we did not have all three TEF plants in the plan, but we now have those, the last of which comes online in 2028. Finally, we have the 400 and change MW, of the smaller data center deals that we had previously announced, all also embedded in the plan.

If you think about, you know, what that means in terms of how that shapes our growth in that 14% plus, you know, we talked about when we announced the LS transaction, that it was about an 80-20 split of organic growth versus share repurchases driving that growth rate. It's pretty much the same as we sit here today.

Okay, that's very helpful. Appreciate you laying that out, Bruce. Just in terms of the upgrade opportunities at the LS assets and PJM, any sense of timing there, just in terms of what you're going to do, particularly with the RBA going on in the background, but also the value of kind of speed and what you could do there? Just a sense of timing would be great.

Hey, Sully, it's Rob. We already have engineers at every plant running around and assessing not just the 1,000 MW of upgrades that we mentioned when we did the transaction. We're obviously looking at that, we're also running around, given the RBA and the need for additionality, or bringing more power to the markets. You know, we're running around to see if there's 25 or 50 MW clips that we can add onto the back of other assets. We're out there looking. You know, expect to hear from us later when we actually have some math, but, you know, given the timing of the RBA and kind of how that plays out, you know, we're working very hard to know what we can bring to serve that market and serve our customers.

You know, data centers want to get built up there too, so we'll be looking for opportunities to monetize that through hyperscalers.

Okay. Thank you very much, Rob. I appreciate it.

One moment for our next question. The next question comes from the line of Nicholas Amicucci with Evercore ISI. Go ahead. Your line is open.

Hey, good morning, guys. Larry, Rob, you guys.

I'll just keep it with Bruce. Bruce, congratulations on.

NRG Energy (NRG) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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