Stocks · Utilities · Regulated Electric

Northwestern Energy Group Inc NWE

$68.76 -0.74% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $4.26B

Strong trendExpensive vs sector

Next earnings report: Nov 4, 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. The shares trade at 24.8× trailing earnings, higher than 90% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
  2. Net debt is 6.1× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
  3. Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $2.77, down 24.5% year over year.

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.

Growth46Neutral

How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.

  • Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 30%
  • EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 11%
  • Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 47%
  • Revenue growth accelerationTop 23%
Quality33Weak

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

  • Return on invested capitalBottom 41%
  • Gross marginTop 16%
  • Operating marginBottom 34%
  • Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 31%
  • Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 38%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 24%
  • Interest coverBottom 32%
Value19Very weak

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

  • Earnings yieldBottom 21%
  • Free-cash-flow yieldTop 47%
  • EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 35%
  • Sales / enterprise valueBottom 45%
  • P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 1%
Momentum98Exceptional

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

  • 12-month return excluding last monthTop 3%
  • 6-month returnTop 10%
  • 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 2%
  • Distance from 52-week highTop 2%
  • Trend checklist (0–4)Top 24%
Revisions16Very weak

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

  • Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 38%
  • Consecutive EPS beatsTop 35%
  • Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 11%
  • Upside to consensus price targetBottom 3%
Stability54Neutral

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

  • Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 41%
  • Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 4%
  • Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 49%
  • Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 24%

What changed

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

MeasureBeforeNow
Revenue growth (YoY)9.1%10.7%↑
EPS growth (YoY)-29.2%-24.5%↑
Gross margin58.7%66.5%↑
Operating margin22.6%18.8%↓
FCF margin-8.4%-11.4%↓

Fundamental momentum

MeasureNow (TTM)Year / quarter beforeSector rank
Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)10.7%9.1%↑Top 30%
EPS growth (TTM, YoY)-24.5%-29.2%↑Bottom 11%
Gross margin66.5%58.7%↑Top 16%
Operating margin18.8%22.6%↓Bottom 34%
Net margin10.1%14.8%↓—
Free-cash-flow margin-11.4%-8.4%↓—
Return on invested capital3.9%—Bottom 41%
Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR2.9%—Bottom 47%

Quality of earnings and balance sheet

Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
2.43×
Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
-2.8%
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.
-1.8 pp
Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
6.06×
Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
2.0×

Shareholder returns

Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
3.82%
Net buyback yield (TTM)
0.00%
Shareholder yield
3.82%
Share count change, 1 year
+0.2%
Share count change, 3-year CAGR
+0.9%

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

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

Earnings and expectations

Earnings momentum

Consecutive EPS beats
2
Beats in the last 8 reports
5 of 8
Average EPS surprise, last 4
+5.8%
Average 2-day reaction, last 8
-0.5%
Positive 20 days after report
3 of 8

Analysts

Consensus price target
$68.50
Target vs current price
-0.4%
Analysts with a rating
18
Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
22%
Consensus rating
Hold

How the stock reacted to recent reports

Report dateEPS surprise2 days5 days20 days60 days
Jul 29, 2026+18.2%-2.3%-3.4%-2.0%—
Apr 29, 2026+1.6%-1.4%-1.9%-0.0%+0.7%
Feb 11, 2026-1.7%+0.1%+0.2%-2.0%+5.9%
Oct 29, 2025+5.3%-2.5%-0.8%+10.0%+8.6%
Jul 30, 2025+5.3%+0.1%+3.8%+10.0%+17.3%
Apr 29, 2025+5.2%+1.2%-0.9%-5.3%-11.4%
Feb 12, 2025-3.4%-1.0%-2.7%-0.3%+4.3%
Oct 28, 2024-4.4%+1.6%-3.1%+4.2%-0.6%

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

Earnings history

Report dateEPSEstimateSurpriseRevenue
Jul 29, 2026$0.50$0.42+18.2%$392.6M
Apr 29, 2026$1.31$1.29+1.6%$497.6M
Feb 11, 2026$1.17$1.19-1.7%$414.3M
Oct 29, 2025$0.79$0.75+5.3%$387.0M
Jul 30, 2025$0.40$0.38+5.3%$342.7M
Apr 29, 2025$1.22$1.16+5.2%$466.6M
Feb 12, 2025$1.13$1.17-3.4%$373.5M
Oct 28, 2024$0.65$0.68-4.4%$345.2M

Valuation in context

MultipleNow5-year median5-year percentileSector rank (cheapness)
P/E (trailing)24.8×16.3×90thBottom 21%
P/E (forward)18.4×———
EV / EBITDA13.2×——Bottom 35%
EV / Sales4.64×——Bottom 45%
Free-cash-flow yield-4.51%——Top 47%
Earnings yield4.03%——Bottom 21%

P/E over the past five years

Range 14.3× – 26.6× 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
+20.6%
Earnings per share growth (TTM)
-24.5%
Change in P/E multiple
+72.0%

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)
-1.6%
200-day average slope (20 days)
+0.3%
Distance from 50-day average
-1.7%
Distance from 200-day average
-1.0%
RSI (14)
46.8
Relative volume
1.77×

Risk and drawdowns

Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
18.3%
Volatility vs own 5-year history
18th percentile · Low for this stock
Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
0.19
Correlation with S&P 500
0.14
Current drawdown from 1-year high
-6.3%
Maximum drawdown, 3 years
-14.6%

Largest declines in the past six years

From peakTo lowDeclineLengthRecovery
Apr 20, 2021Oct 27, 2023-33.8%636 days586 days (Mar 3, 2026)
Nov 25, 2020Jan 29, 2021-12.2%43 days27 days (Mar 10, 2021)
Mar 4, 2026Mar 20, 2026-11.0%12 days16 days (Apr 14, 2026)
Apr 15, 2026Jun 9, 2026-10.5%38 days12 days (Jun 26, 2026)

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

Financial statements

Market cap
$4.26B
P/E (TTM)
24.8
EPS, diluted (TTM)
$2.77
Revenue (TTM)
$1.69B
Dividend yield
3.88%
52-week range
$56.97 – $75.18
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$1.37B$1.48B$1.42B$1.51B$1.61B
Gross profit$946.8M$764.4M$781.4M$1.29B$1.33B
Operating income$275.7M$263.1M$300.5M$323.3M$325.8M
Net income$186.8M$183.0M$194.1M$224.1M$181.1M
EPS (diluted)$3.60$3.25$3.22$3.65$2.94
Q3 2024Q4 2024Q1 2025Q2 2025Q3 2025Q4 2025Q1 2026Q2 2026
Revenue$345.2M$373.5M$466.6M$342.7M$387.0M$414.3M$497.6M$392.6M
Net income$46.8M$80.6M$76.9M$21.2M$38.2M$44.7M$63.5M$25.0M
EPS (diluted)$0.76$1.31$1.25$0.35$0.62$0.72$1.03$0.40
FY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Operating cash flow$220.0M$307.2M$489.2M$406.7M$394.5M
Capital expenditure-$434.3M-$515.1M-$566.9M-$549.2M-$524.5M
Free cash flow-$214.3M-$207.9M-$77.7M-$142.5M-$130.0M
Dividends paid-$128.5M-$140.1M-$154.1M-$158.6M-$161.4M
Net share buybacks$197.0M$277.6M$74.7M$1.2M$709,000

Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.

Cash and short-term investments
$4.2M
Total assets
$8.70B
Total liabilities
$5.81B
Total debt
$3.60B
Net debt
$3.59B
Shareholders’ equity
$2.90B

As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).

Dividends

Ex-dateAmountPaid
Aug 17, 2026$0.67Sep 1, 2026
Jun 15, 2026$0.67Jun 30, 2026
Mar 13, 2026$0.67Mar 31, 2026
Dec 15, 2025$0.66Dec 31, 2025
Sep 15, 2025$0.66Sep 30, 2025
Jun 13, 2025$0.66Jun 30, 2025
Mar 14, 2025$0.66Mar 31, 2025
Dec 13, 2024$0.65Dec 31, 2024

Short interest

Shares sold short
1,994,196
Days to cover
5.08
Change vs previous report
+9.1%

FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.