Ameren Earnings Rise Despite Revenue Drop as Off-System Sales Collapse
Ameren posted second-quarter diluted earnings of $1.13 a share, up from $1.01 a year earlier, even as total revenue fell 5.8% to $2.09 billion.
Ameren (AEE) reported second-quarter net income attributable to common shareholders of $314 million, or $1.13 a share, up from $275 million, or $1.01 a share, a year earlier, an 11.9% increase even as total operating revenue fell to $2,092 million from $2,221 million.
The gain came alongside a steep drop in one revenue line. Ameren Missouri's off-system sales and capacity revenue fell to $148 million from $471 million, a 68.6% decline that dragged the segment's total electric revenue down to $1,094 million from $1,315 million even as retail electric load revenue climbed 12.1% to $946 million. Milder temperatures during the quarter reduced retail sales volumes, a reversal from the first quarter's framing of a warmer-than-normal prior-year winter and from full-year 2025 results that had cited favorable weather as a tailwind.
For the first half, diluted EPS reached $2.41 on net income of $671 million, up from $2.08 and $564 million a year earlier, a roughly 15.9% increase. That trailed the first quarter's standalone year-over-year EPS growth of 19.6%, when EPS rose to $1.28 from $1.07, indicating the pace of earnings growth slowed into the second quarter.
The revenue decline masked cost improvement. Operating income rose to $459 million from $411 million as fuel and purchased-power costs dropped about 36% to $507 million from $794 million, partly offset by other operating and maintenance expense rising to $521 million from $460 million. Interest charges climbed to $209 million from $187 million, an 11.8% increase that has recurred as a headwind across the first-quarter, fourth-quarter and second-quarter releases.
Among segments, Ameren Missouri earnings rose 4.7% to $157 million, while Ameren Transmission grew faster, up 11.6% to $96 million, and Illinois Electric Distribution rose 9.4% to $70 million. Illinois Natural Gas earnings slipped to $9 million from $10 million, a reversal from the first quarter, when new December 2025 gas rates had driven a 13.0% earnings increase to $122 million from $108 million. Ameren Parent's quarterly loss narrowed to $18 million from $35 million, continuing a trend after the first quarter's loss narrowed to $5 million from $13 million.
Ameren reaffirmed 2026 full-year EPS guidance of $5.25 to $5.45 for the third consecutive release, having first affirmed the range at the fourth-quarter 2025 report in February and again at the first quarter. At the fourth-quarter release, the company also issued a long-term EPS growth target of 6% to 8% annually through 2030, based on the 2026 guidance midpoint, a disclosure that did not appear in either of the following two quarterly releases.
Growth in weighted-average basic shares outstanding continued to weigh on per-share results, a factor cited in each of the last four quarterly releases. Book value per share rose to $49.45 at June 30 from $48.48 at year-end, with shares outstanding increasing modestly to 276.8 million from 276.4 million.
Unlike full-year 2025, when GAAP EPS of $5.35 included $0.32 a share of one-time tax benefits tied to FERC and ICC net-operating-loss carryforwards that adjusted EPS of $5.03 excluded, neither the first- nor second-quarter 2026 releases included comparable one-time items, leaving this year's comparisons on a cleaner run-rate basis.