Black Hills Stock Earnings Reports

Black Hills reported Q1 2026 GAAP EPS of $1.73 ($1.79 adjusted excluding 5¢ merger costs) and reaffirmed full-year adjusted EPS guidance of $4.25–$4.45. Warm winter weather materially reduced retail demand (an 18¢ per-share headwind vs. Q1 2025 and 13¢ vs. normal), but the company offset much of this via 24¢ from new rates/rider recoveries and 10¢ of O&M improvements. Management highlighted a $4.7 billion five-year capital plan focused on safety, reliability and customer growth, including minimal incremental capital to serve 600 MW of data center demand in the current plan and development work for additional generation/transmission for upside opportunities. The company is progressing a large-load pipeline (>3 GW) — including negotiations tied to a 1.8 GW Cheyenne project — and has executed a short-term reservation agreement resulting in $201 million of refundable customer contributions in aid of construction to secure long-lead generation equipment; management emphasized those assets would be utility-owned and structured with negotiated, customer-specific contracts (not rolled into general retail rate base). Key projects include the 99 MW Lange II (on track for service in Q4 2026) and a 50 MW battery plus a 200 MW solar PPA in Colorado. Merger progress with Northwestern Energy: shareholder approvals passed, HSR waiting period cleared, settlements reached with intervenors in three states, and management expects remaining state and FERC approvals in H2 2026. The company maintains strong liquidity (~$500M revolver availability), investment-grade metrics with targeted FFO/debt of 14–15%, and a commitment to steady dividend growth (56 consecutive increases; target 55–65% payout).