Is NextEra Energy Stock A Real Bargain? Trefis Team Thu, November 12, 2026 at 4:08 PM EST 4 min read NEE -0.67% ^GSPC -0.35% DUK -0.14% SO -1.46% D -0.81% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
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NextEra Energy (NEE) stock trades at 15.4 times earnings, against 21.9 for the median S&P 500 company, after lagging the S&P 500 over the past year. That multiple is low partly because net income of $11.6 billion in the twelve months to September 2026 came on just $8.35 billion of operating income. The stock could be a growing utility on sale, or a fair price for profit that ran ahead of the business. So what does a buyer actually get from NextEra Energy's business at this price?
NextEra Energy's Margins Beat Most S&P 500 Companies
NextEra Energy retained 29.0% of its revenue as operating income over the four quarters ended September 30, 2026, compared with 19.0% for the median S&P 500 company. Most of that revenue comes from Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), which generated $18.3 billion of the company's $27.4 billion in fiscal 2025. NextEra Energy Resources (NEER), which operates wind farms, gas plants and battery storage, supplies most of the balance.
Sales are growing, too: revenue rose 9.6% over those twelve months, against 8.7% for the median company. And NextEra Energy turned 14.2% of its revenue into free cash flow, while each of five large peers had negative free cash flow over the same period, including Duke Energy as well as American Electric Power. On its operations, NextEra Energy compares well with the market and with other large utilities.
Profit And Debt Have Both Jumped At NextEra Energy
NextEra Energy posted a 40.4% net margin over the four quarters ended September 30, 2026, compared with an average of 30.5% across its three latest twelve-month periods. The company's 29.0% operating margin remained close to its own three-period average of 29.8%, so most of the profit jump occurred below operating income. Revenue growth also landed well above the company's three-period average of 1.9%.
Debt jumped as well. NextEra Energy owed $114 billion at September 30, 2026, more than double the $55.3 billion it owed five years earlier. That debt equals 63.4% of the company's market value, compared with 19.5% for the broader S&P 500.
The company also paid $5.09 billion in dividends over the latest twelve months, which exceeded the $4.09 billion of free cash flow it generated. During the October 21, 2026 call, management said the company expects to need roughly $12 billion to $17 billion of new equity through 2032. The stock price appears to assume that some of today's profit will not repeat, and that growth will cost shareholders more debt and more shares.
What NextEra Energy Has Promised Investors
Management expects adjusted earnings per share, its own measure, to grow 8% or more a year through 2032 from a 2025 base of $3.71. Adjusted earnings per share rose 9.7% in fiscal Q3 2026 from a year earlier, and management said it is targeting the high end of its 2026 range. Energy Resources has a backlog of nearly 36.7 gigawatts of new renewables and battery storage projects, and management expects the combination with Dominion Energy to close in the second half of 2027. Shareholders of both companies approved it on September 3, and Dominion is one of the five peers above with negative free cash flow. Management said the combination would lift its yearly growth goal from 8% or more to 9% or more.
At this price, a buyer is not mainly betting that the market missed a sound business. The operations hold up, but the profit behind the low multiple outpaced them, while debt rises and new shares are planned. The bet is that NextEra Energy turns that borrowing into the earnings growth management has promised. NextEra Energy is expected to report in January 2027. The number to watch then will be its adjusted earnings per share for 2026, compared with the $3.92 to $4.02 range management gave.
Does This Mean You Should Act On NEE?
Betting on a single stock is always risky, whichever way you lean. The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio holds 30 quality companies in equal weight and has returned 105% since its September 2020 launch.
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