Entergy: Powering the Southern United States
Resilient grid, nuclear baseload, data centers. Entergy is building the South’s next energy chapter.
Introduction
Entergy ETR 0.00%↑ is building the backbone you rarely see: stronger lines, new plants, and cleaner megawatts to keep the Southern US running. From neighborhoods and hospitals to refineries and, increasingly, hyperscale data centers, ETR 0.00%↑’s Entergy’s quiet rebuild meets the AI land rush. In Mississippi, three multi-billion-dollar campuses are coming. That has people asking the right questions: pollution, who pays, and whether power bills will spike like they did in other hot spots.
Haley Fisackerly, CEO of Entergy Mississippi, addressed it head-on last week. His core message: growth, done correctly, can bend the rate trajectory down. “Rates were already going up… Rates are not going to be as high as they otherwise would have been,” he said, framing how AWS and AVAIO will pay the incremental costs for new capacity, transmission upgrades, and even the renewables they want.
In short: bigger customers, larger denominator, stronger grid, without shifting the tab to everyone else.
That’s the context for the stock: a patient, capital-heavy buildout with real-world guardrails and long-lived returns. Price has run from the 2024 lows and is now catching its breath under recent all-time highs. The story from here is less about headlines and more about the cadence of approvals and in-service dates.
Company Overview
Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR 0.00%↑) is a Fortune 500, fully regulated electric utility serving about 3 million customers across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity, with all retail operations regulated by state commissions (plus the New Orleans City Council). Day-to-day power dispatch happens inside the regional market, which helps balance supply and demand across multiple states.
Entergy runs a large gas fleet plus five nuclear reactors that together supply ~5,000 MW of firm, carbon-free energy. Renewables are growing through utility-owned and contracted resources. The nuclear fleet is a strategic anchor for reliability and emissions. Entergy is midway through a $37 billion 2025 to 2028 plan focused on generation additions, transmission expansions, distribution upgrades, and storm-hardening. The near-term playbook is to add capacity, integrate more renewables, and make the grid tougher against Gulf storms.
Policy/regulatory momentum around hyperscale projects is material. In Louisiana, the LPSC approved Entergy Louisiana’s plan to support Meta’s new data center with three combined-cycle plants (two in Richland Parish targeted for 2028 and one at the Waterford site by late 2029) plus up to 1,500 MW of solar and significant transmission build-outs. In Mississippi, an interview with Entergy Mississippi CEO Haley Fisackerly outlines how AWS and AVAIO will fund the incremental costs to serve their campuses (including ~650 MW of renewables for AWS), with contract structures designed to protect other customers.
For investors, ETR 0.00%↑’s model is the steady compounding of regulated assets: new plants, lines, and substations that earn allowed returns once deemed prudent. For communities, the same projects mean better reliability and capacity for growth. The Louisiana and Mississippi cases show two sides of the same coin: enabling energy-intensive development while contractually pushing incremental costs to large users and keeping oversight intact.
What Matters Near Term
Quarterly print: Recent quarter continued the trend of solid utility earnings and affirmed the full-year outlook (attachments show smoother operating income and stable margins).
Growth pipeline: Ongoing approvals tied to Gulf-South industrial load and hyperscale data center demand; grid resilience programs (notably in Texas) continue to roll out.
Capital plan: Elevated 2025–2028 capex for new CCGTs/renewables and transmission; translates to growing rate base but near-term negative FCF.
Fundamental Analysis
Scale & growth
Revenue (TTM): $12.31B; vs 2024: $11.88B; vs 2023: $12.15B. Low single-digit growth with improving mix.
Operating income (TTM): $3.31B (up vs 2024 and 2023).
Profitability (TTM)
Gross margin: 49.1%
Operating margin: 26.9%
EBITDA margin: ~49.3%
Net margin: ~14.3%
These are robust for a regulated utility and reflect constructive rate recovery and cost discipline.
Cash flow & CAPEX
Operating cash flow (TTM): $4.74B
CAPEX (TTM): ~$7.1B
Capex/Depreciation ~3x (growth mode; Depreciation around $2.5B).
Free cash flow (TTM): ~-$2.57B (expected given the heavy investment).
Balance sheet (6/30/25)
Total assets: $68.4B
Net PP&E: $50.5B
Total debt: $30.4B
Common equity: $16.2B
Debt/Capitalization: ~69%;
Debt/EBITDA ≈ 5.0x;
EBIT/Interest ≈ 2.9x.
Leverage and coverage are consistent with regulated peers. Watch rate sensitivity and cadence of rate recovery.
Takeaways
Entergy is early-to-mid cycle on a big capex runway. Negative FCF is by design. The key is execution and timely regulatory recovery.
Profitability trends are positive despite higher interest expense. Balance sheet metrics remain within sector norms.
Technical Analysis
Monthly (1M):
Primary uptrend since 2024. Price well above 20/50/100-M EMAs (~$75.7/$64.6/$56.7). Bullish long-term structure.
Weekly (1W):
Higher highs and higher lows from Q4’24; price above 20-W EMA (~$86.2), momentum easing but positive (RSI ~60). Structure supports continuation after consolidation.
Daily (1D):
Pullback/consolidation from August high near $92. Price currently $88–89, sitting above 20/50/100-DMA (≈$88.6/$87.8/$85.9); 200-DMA ≈$81.7 as major support level.
RSI ~50 (neutral), MACD near zero. Looking for the next push or a deeper A-B-C into supports.
Fibs show potential Wave A retrace zones at $86 (0.382), $84 (0.5), $82 (0.618), all aligned with rising MAs.
2-Hour (2H):
Completed a corrective Wave 4, working on a potential Wave 5 advance. Elliott waves point to $92.4 (0.618), then $96.1 (1.0), then $102.1 (1.618) if momentum follows through.
1H / 30M:
Clean impulse, correction sequence; MACD cycling positive; RSI mid-50s. Price action respects the 100/200-EMAs as dynamic support/resistance.
5M / 1M (for context):
Micro counts show intraday pullback after tapping $89+; near-term retrace zones $88.87–$88.95 with micro targets $89.28–$89.65. Helpful for timing, but our focus is swing.
Level map
Support: $88.0 (intraday pivot), then $86.0, $84.0, $82.0, $81.5 (200-DMA/invalid.)
Resistance: $89.5–$90.7 (supply & MTF pivots) then $92.4 (prior high / 0.618 ext), $96.1, $102.1.
Trade Plan
Base Case: Buy the dip
First entry: $86.0 - $87.0 (38.2% retrace / 50-day MA confluence).
Add: $84.0–$84.5 if hit on low momentum.
Stop / Invalidation: Weekly close below $81.5 (below 200-day MA).
Targets: $96 first, $102 stretch (2H Wave 5 / 1.618).
Sizing: Risk 0.5–1.0% of portfolio per attempt; scale 40%/40%/20% on the way down; keep total risk sized to the stop.
Momentum Add / Breakout
Trigger: Daily close above $90.7 and 2H MACD turning up.
Stop: $87.7 (below 50-day MA cluster).
Targets: $96 / $102.
Useful if the market refuses to give the $86 pullback.
Conclusion
ETR 0.00%↑’s investment case is straightforward: regulated growth combined with industrial load tailwinds supported by a resilient balance sheet and improving profitability. The CAPEX wave restricts free cash today but builds a solid foundation and earnings for tomorrow (classic utility compounding). Technically, the higher-timeframe trend is intact; a shallow A-B-C or quick breakout both point to $96–$102 over the next few months if $81-$82 holds on a weekly basis. Execute with patience, staged entries, and strict invalidation.