Renewables Leader Beats Expectations with Q2 Results

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) highlighted the importance of new transmission facilities and the support of regional grid operators during its second-quarter earnings call last week with financial analysts.

CFO Rebecca Kujawa said the company is following the infrastructure discussions at the federal level and has an eye out for opportunities for NextEra Transmission, its competitive wires company.

“We’re looking out decades and looking at the enormous renewables build opportunity across the U.S. It is clear that over time, new transmission needs to be built to support some of that buildout,” Kujawa said during a conference call Friday. “It certainly is important to start today to build the type of infrastructure that’s needed over time. … From a broader policy standpoint, we saw that it is important for the regional ISOs to continue to focus on how you support that transmission build out.

“I think there’s a receptive audience in the Biden administration, making sure that they support laying a foundation that’s supportive of renewables, not just in the next couple of years, but in the next couple of decades. Transmission moves slowly, so stay tuned,” Kujawa said.

The Juno Beach, Fla.-based company beat expectations in reporting earnings of $256 million ($0.13/share), compared to $1.28 billion ($0.65/share) for the second quarter of 2020. NextEra’s adjusted earnings of 71 cents/share outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 67 cents.

NextEra said it surpassed 40% completion during the quarter of its “30-by-30” plan to install more than 30 million solar panels by 2030. It expects to reach the halfway point early next year.

The company’s development arm, NextEra Energy Resources (NEER), added about 1.8 GW of renewable and storage projects to its backlog since the release of first-quarter results in April. NEER expects to add between 22.7 and 30 GW of renewable power projects within the 2021-2024 time frame.

NextEra’s share price opened at $76.12 on Friday and was at $77.10 in after-hours trading.

AEP Beats Analysts’ Expectations

American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings of $578 million ($1.16/share), compared to 2020’s second-quarter earnings of $521 million ($1.05/share). The company’s adjusted earnings of $1.18/share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.14 by 3.5%.

“We are seeing positive signs of economic improvement as the nation recovers from the pandemic,” AEP CEO Nick Akins said. “Commercial and industrial sales have bounced back throughout our service territory across nearly all sectors. Residential sales are down compared with the second quarter last year as many customers we serve are now returning to the workplace.”

The Columbus, Ohio-based company said it is advancing its plan to transition generation capacity to approximately 50% renewables by 2030. It has recently issued requests for proposals for two large-scale renewable energy resources as it works to bring up to 16.6 GW of new, clean energy online this decade.

AEP’s share price opened Thursday at $84.61 and spiked to $86.22 shortly after the earnings call with analysts. The share price ended the week at $85.98.