Talen Energy (TLN) 8-KTalen Energy Reports Third Quarter 2024 Results, Raises and Narrows 2024 Guidance and Reaffirms 2025 Guidance

“Market and regulatory events over the last few months have further underscored how critical existing generation is to serving demand growth, largely driven by electrification and data centers, and to supporting grid reliability. Our fleet continued to run well this quarter, which is reflected in our year-to-date results. We are raising and narrowing our 2024 guidance ranges and reaffirming guidance for 2025,” said Talen President and Chief Executive Officer Mac McFarland.

“Progress at the AWS data center campus is accelerating, with our acquisition of TeraWulf’s minority share of the Nautilus JV, enabling the campus to access power more quickly and easily. We are obviously disappointed with the FERC’s recent decision on the Susquehanna ISA. That said, we are moving forward with AWS on commercial solutions,” McFarland continued. “We continue to execute on our share repurchase program, which has a remaining capacity of $1.2 billion.”

For the third quarter 2024, Talen reported GAAP Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Stockholders of $168 million, Adjusted EBITDA of $230 million and Adjusted Free Cash Flow of $97 million.

Compared to the same quarter last year, GAAP Net Income (Loss) Attributable to Stockholders was $245 million higher, primarily driven by (i) higher recognized unrealized hedge gains due to lower forward prices as of September 30, 2024, compared to the same period last year, and (ii) an increase in the net gain of the nuclear facility decommissioning trust from stronger investment returns due to improved equity markets and declining interest rates.

Compared to the same quarter last year, Adjusted EBITDA was $6 million higher primarily due to strong PJM generation fleet performance driven by improved spark spreads and accrued Nuclear PTC revenue, despite the absence of earnings from the ERCOT generation portfolio that was sold in March 2024.

Adjusted Free Cash Flow, which was $49 million lower compared to the same quarter last year, included higher pension plan contributions and accelerated nuclear fuel purchases.

Additionally, for the third quarter 2024, Talen’s fleet continued to run reliably and safely, with a Fleet EFOF of 3.1% and an OSHA TRIR of 0.4. Total generation was 10.8 TWh, with 43% contributed from carbon-free nuclear generation at our Susquehanna nuclear facility.

Given the impacts of fresh start accounting and the implementation of the plan of reorganization in the second quarter 2023, our financial position and results of operations for year-to-date 2024 are not comparable to our financial position or results of operations for year-to-date 2023.

Talen is raising and narrowing the 2024 guidance ranges and reaffirming the 2025 guidance ranges.

Since the start of 2024, Talen has repurchased approximately 14% of its outstanding shares for a total of $952 million, with $1.2 billion of remaining repurchase capacity through year-end 2026. All share repurchase amounts are excluding transaction costs.

After uplisting to the NASDAQ Global Select Market and based on their respective methodologies, Talen became eligible to join several equity indices, which could drive substantial institutional and passive stock demand. During the third quarter 2024, Talen was added to the S&P Total Market Index, S&P Completion Index, CRSP Total Market Index, and CRSP Small Cap Index. These additions led to passive index funds acquiring more than six million shares of Talen common stock.

On November 6, 2024, MSCI announced Talen will be added to the MSCI USA Small Cap Index, effective after market close on November 25, 2024. Talen may qualify for additional value, growth, and / or sector-related indices, leading to further demand for our shares.

Talen is focused on maintaining net leverage below our target of 3.5x net debt-to-Adjusted EBITDA, along with ample liquidity. As of November 8, 2024, Talen had total available liquidity of approximately $1.3 billion, comprised of $557 million of unrestricted cash and $700 million of available capacity under its revolving credit facility. Talen’s current net leverage ratio, utilizing the midpoint of 2024 Adjusted EBITDA guidance and net debt balance as of November 8, 2024, is approximately 2.1x.

As of September 30, 2024, including the impact of the Nuclear PTC, Talen had hedged approximately 100% of its expected generation volumes for the balance of 2024, 64% for 2025 and 18% for 2026. The Company’s hedging program is a key component of its comprehensive fiscal policy and supports the objective of increasing cash flow stability while maintaining upside optionality.

The Company will hold an earnings call on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. EST (9:00 a.m. CST). To listen to the earnings call, please register in advance for the webcast here. For participants joining the call via phone, please register here prior to the start time to receive dial-in information. For those unable to participate in the live event, a digital replay of the earnings call will be archived for approximately one year and available on Talen's Investor Relations website at https://ir.talenenergy.com/news-events/events.

Talen Energy (NASDAQ: TLN) is a leading independent power producer and energy infrastructure company dedicated to powering the future. We own and operate approximately 10.7 gigawatts of power infrastructure in the United States, including 2.2 gigawatts of nuclear power and a significant dispatchable fossil fleet. We produce and sell electricity, capacity, and ancillary services into wholesale U.S. power markets, with our generation fleet principally located in the Mid-Atlantic and Montana. Our team is committed to generating power safely and reliably, delivering the most value per megawatt produced and driving the energy transition. Talen is also powering the digital infrastructure revolution. We are well-positioned to capture this significant growth opportunity, as data centers serving artificial intelligence increasingly demand more reliable, clean power. Talen is headquartered in Houston, Texas. For more information, visit https://www.talenenergy.com/.

This communication contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this communication, or incorporated by reference into this communication, are forward-looking statements. Throughout this communication, we have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by using words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” or other forms of these words or similar words or expressions or the negative thereof, although not all forward-looking statements contain these terms. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions concerning, among other things, capital expenditures, earnings, litigation, regulatory matters, hedging, liquidity and capital resources and accounting matters. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause our future business, financial condition, results of operations or performance to differ materially from our historical results or those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement contained in this communication. All of our forward-looking statements include assumptions underlying or relating to such statements that may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations, and are subject to numerous factors that present considerable risks and uncertainties.

We include Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash flow, which the Company uses as measures of its performance and are not financial measures prepared under GAAP, in these materials. Non-GAAP financial measures do not have definitions under GAAP and may be defined and calculated differently by, and not be comparable to, similarly titled measures used by other companies. Non-GAAP measures are not intended to replace the most comparable GAAP measures as indicators of performance. Generally, non-GAAP financial measures are numerical measures of financial performance, financial position, or cash flows that exclude (or include) amounts that are included in (or excluded from) the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Management cautions readers of these materials not to place undue reliance on these non-GAAP financial measures, but to also consider them along with their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP measures have limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analyzing our results as reported under GAAP.

We use Adjusted EBITDA to: (i) assist in comparing operating performance and readily view operating trends on a consistent basis from period to period without certain items that may distort financial results; (ii) plan and forecast overall expectations and evaluate actual results against such expectations; (iii) communicate with our Board of Directors, shareholders, creditors, analysts, and the broader financial community concerning our financial performance; (iv) set performance metrics for the Company’s annual short-term incentive compensation; and (v) assess compliance with our indebtedness.

Adjusted EBITDA is computed as net income (loss) adjusted, among other things, for certain: (i) nonrecurring charges; (ii) non-recurring gains; (iii) non-cash and other items; (iv) unusual market events; (v) any depreciation, amortization, or accretion; (vi) mark-to-market gains or losses; (vii) gains and losses on the nuclear facility decommissioning trust (“NDT”); (viii) gains and losses on asset sales, dispositions, and asset retirement; (ix) impairments, obsolescence, and net realizable value charges; (x) interest expense; (xi) income taxes; (xii) legal settlements, liquidated damages, and contractual terminations; (xiii) development expenses; (xiv) noncontrolling interests; and (xv) other adjustments. Such adjustments are computed consistently with the provisions of our indebtedness to the extent that they can be derived from the financial records of the business. Pursuant to TES’s debt agreements, Cumulus Digital contributes to Adjusted EBITDA beginning in the first quarter 2024, following termination of the Cumulus Digital credit facility and associated cash flow sweep.

Additionally, we believe investors commonly adjust net income (loss) information to eliminate the effect of nonrecurring restructuring expenses, and other non-cash charges, which vary widely from company to company and from period to period and impair comparability. We believe Adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors and other users of the financial statements to evaluate our operating performance because it provides an additional tool to compare business performance across companies and between periods. Adjusted EBITDA is widely used by investors to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to such items described above. These adjustments can vary substantially from company to company and period to period depending upon accounting policies, book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired.

Adjusted Free Cash Flow, a key non-GAAP financial measure, is a useful metric utilized by our chief operating decision makers to evaluate cash flow activities. Adjusted Free Cash Flow is computed as Adjusted EBITDA reduced by capital expenditures (including nuclear fuel but excluding development, growth and (or) conversion capital expenditures), cash payments for interest and finance charges, cash payments for taxes (excluding income taxes paid from the NDT), and pension contributions.

We believe Adjusted Free Cash Flow is useful to investors and other users of our financial statements in evaluating our operating performance because it provides them with an additional tool to determine a company’s ability to meet future obligations and to compare business performance across companies and across periods. Adjusted Free Cash Flow is widely used by investors to measure a company’s levered cash flow without regard to items such as ARO settlements; nonrecurring development, growth and conversion expenditures; and cash proceeds or payments for the sale or purchase of assets, which can vary substantially from company to company and from period to period depending upon accounting methods, book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired.

Please see below for reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow to “Net Income (Loss),” the most comparable GAAP financial measure. Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow are not intended to replace “Net Income (Loss),” a measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

The reconciliations from “Net Income (Loss)” presented on the Consolidated Statements of Operations to Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow for the periods were: