Stocks · Utilities · Independent Power Producers

NRG Energy, Inc. NRG

$96.80 +1.65% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $20.09B

Strong growthWeak trendHigh risk

Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026

Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.

Three things to know

  1. Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $3.81, up 73.2% year over year.
  2. Net debt is 5.5× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
  3. Revenue over the last four quarters was $36.75B, up 25.1% from a year earlier, accelerating from 10.7% a quarter earlier.

PromtFinance scores

Each score is a percentile within the Utilities sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.

Growth96Exceptional

How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.

  • Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 8%
  • EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 5%
  • FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 30%
  • Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 22%
  • Revenue growth accelerationTop 2%
Quality30Weak

Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.

  • Return on invested capitalTop 12%
  • Gross marginBottom 10%
  • Operating marginBottom 11%
  • Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 26%
  • Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 16%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 44%
  • Interest coverTop 3%
Value57Neutral

How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.

  • Earnings yieldBottom 20%
  • Free-cash-flow yieldTop 23%
  • EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 37%
  • Sales / enterprise valueTop 4%
  • P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 15%
Momentum3Very weak

Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.

  • 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 2%
  • 6-month returnBottom 4%
  • 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 2%
  • Distance from 52-week highBottom 8%
  • Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 33%
Revisions56Neutral

Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).

  • Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 28%
  • Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 14%
  • Share of analysts rating BuyTop 19%
  • Upside to consensus price targetTop 6%
Stability11Very weak

Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.

  • Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 10%
  • Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 17%
  • Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 7%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 44%

What changed

Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).

MeasureBeforeNow
Revenue growth (YoY)10.7%25.1%↑
EPS growth (YoY)-86.3%73.2%↑
Gross margin17.3%16.4%↓
Operating margin4.5%5.4%↑
FCF margin4.7%0.9%↓

Fundamental momentum

MeasureNow (TTM)Year / quarter beforeSector rank
Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)25.1%10.7%↑Top 8%
EPS growth (TTM, YoY)73.2%-86.3%↑Top 5%
Gross margin16.4%17.3%↓Bottom 10%
Operating margin5.4%4.5%↑Bottom 11%
Net margin2.3%1.8%↑—
Free-cash-flow margin0.9%4.7%↓—
Return on invested capital5.4%—Top 12%
Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR-0.9%—Bottom 22%

Quality of earnings and balance sheet

Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
1.83×
Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
-1.8%
Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
0.4%
Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
-21.8 pp
Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
5.51×
Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
15.3×

Shareholder returns

Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
2.18%
Net buyback yield (TTM)
1.62%
Shareholder yield
3.80%
Share count change, 1 year
+7.1%
Share count change, 3-year CAGR
-3.3%

Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.

Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).

Earnings and expectations

Earnings momentum

Consecutive EPS beats
0
Beats in the last 8 reports
3 of 8
Average EPS surprise, last 4
+1.6%
Average 2-day reaction, last 8
+0.7%
Positive 20 days after report
2 of 8

Analysts

Consensus price target
$202.90
Target vs current price
+109.6%
Analysts with a rating
27
Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
70%
Consensus rating
Buy

How the stock reacted to recent reports

Report dateEPS surprise2 days5 days20 days60 days
Aug 4, 2026-11.8%-15.5%-14.1%-20.5%—
May 6, 2026-16.4%-4.3%-12.8%-15.0%-14.7%
Feb 24, 2026+6.0%+4.3%-0.5%-14.0%-29.9%
Nov 6, 2025+28.5%-1.8%-2.5%-2.2%-12.1%
Aug 6, 2025-3.4%-13.6%-8.9%-14.6%+3.8%
May 12, 2025+53.1%+26.2%+33.4%+29.9%+24.5%
Feb 26, 2025-24.0%+10.6%-2.1%-0.2%+51.8%
Nov 8, 2024-5.0%-0.3%-4.9%+3.0%+7.2%

Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.

Earnings history

Report dateEPSEstimateSurpriseRevenue
Aug 4, 2026$1.49$1.69-11.8%$7.48B
May 6, 2026$1.48$1.77-16.4%$10.29B
Feb 24, 2026$1.03$0.97+6.0%$7.76B
Nov 6, 2025$2.75$2.14+28.5%$7.63B
Aug 6, 2025$1.68$1.74-3.4%$6.74B
May 12, 2025$2.68$1.75+53.1%$8.59B
Feb 26, 2025$1.52$2.00-24.0%$6.86B
Nov 8, 2024$1.90$2.00-5.0%$7.22B

Valuation in context

MultipleNow5-year median5-year percentileSector rank (cheapness)
P/E (trailing)25.4×10.4×71thBottom 20%
P/E (forward)10.9×———
EV / EBITDA10.3×——Top 37%
EV / Sales1.18×——Top 4%
Free-cash-flow yield1.73%——Top 23%
Earnings yield3.94%——Bottom 20%

P/E over the past five years

Range 2.5× – 177.2× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.

What moved the stock over the past year

Price return, 1 year
-42.1%
Earnings per share growth (TTM)
+73.2%
Change in P/E multiple
-54.5%

Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.

Technical state

Trend checklist

  • ✗ Price above 20-day average
  • ✗ Price above 50-day average
  • ✗ Price above 200-day average
  • ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
  • ✗ MACD histogram positive

Trend quality

Days above the 50-day average
0
Days above the 200-day average
0
50-day average slope (20 days)
-11.1%
200-day average slope (20 days)
-4.2%
Distance from 50-day average
-14.6%
Distance from 200-day average
-31.1%
RSI (14)
35.2
Relative volume
1.11×

Risk and drawdowns

Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
56.6%
Volatility vs own 5-year history
89th percentile · High for this stock
Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
1.41
Correlation with S&P 500
0.43
Current drawdown from 1-year high
-47.4%
Maximum drawdown, 3 years
-48.3%

Largest declines in the past six years

From peakTo lowDeclineLengthRecovery
Feb 24, 2026Oct 2, 2026-48.3%153 daysNot yet recovered
May 25, 2022Mar 15, 2023-34.2%201 days169 days (Nov 14, 2023)
Mar 15, 2021May 28, 2021-26.8%53 days60 days (Aug 24, 2021)
Feb 26, 2025Apr 4, 2025-26.2%27 days18 days (May 1, 2025)
Sep 2, 2021Nov 9, 2021-23.6%47 days131 days (May 18, 2022)

Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.

Financial statements

Market cap
$20.09B
P/E (TTM)
25.4
EPS, diluted (TTM)
$3.81
Revenue (TTM)
$36.75B
Dividend yield
1.93%
52-week range
$93.36 – $189.96
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$26.99B$31.54B$28.82B$28.13B$30.71B
Gross profit$6.51B$4.10B$2.30B$6.03B$6.71B
Operating income$3.34B$2.02B$384.0M$2.42B$1.85B
Net income$2.19B$1.22B-$202.0M$1.13B$864.0M
EPS (diluted)$8.93$5.17-$1.12$4.99$4.01
Q3 2024Q4 2024Q1 2025Q2 2025Q3 2025Q4 2025Q1 2026Q2 2026
Revenue$7.22B$6.82B$8.59B$6.74B$7.63B$7.75B$10.30B$11.06B
Net income-$767.0M$643.0M$750.0M-$104.0M$152.0M$66.0M$125.0M$506.0M
EPS (diluted)-$3.79$3.00$3.61-$0.62$0.69$0.26$0.52$2.34
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Operating cash flow$493.0M$360.0M-$221.0M$2.31B$1.91B
Capital expenditure-$269.0M-$367.0M-$598.0M-$472.0M-$1.15B
Free cash flow$224.0M-$7.0M-$819.0M$1.83B$766.0M
Dividends paid-$319.0M-$332.0M-$381.0M-$405.0M-$411.0M
Net share buybacks-$47.0M-$606.0M-$537.0M-$935.0M-$1.40B

Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.

Cash and short-term investments
$162.0M
Total assets
$39.94B
Total liabilities
$35.09B
Total debt
$23.47B
Net debt
$23.30B
Shareholders’ equity
$4.86B

As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).

Dividends

Ex-dateAmountPaid
Aug 3, 2026$0.48Aug 17, 2026
May 1, 2026$0.48May 15, 2026
Feb 2, 2026$0.48Feb 17, 2026
Nov 3, 2025$0.44Nov 17, 2025
Aug 1, 2025$0.44Aug 15, 2025
May 1, 2025$0.44May 15, 2025
Feb 3, 2025$0.44Feb 18, 2025
Nov 1, 2024$0.41Nov 15, 2024

Short interest

Shares sold short
5,836,515
Days to cover
2.16
Change vs previous report
-2.5%

FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.

Stock splits

Jun 1, 2007
2-for-1