Earnings call transcript: Atmos Energy Q4 2025 sees strong EPS beat, stock rises

Atmos Energy Corporation reported strong financial results for the fourth quarter of 2025, surpassing earnings expectations and prompting a positive market reaction. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.07, exceeding the forecasted $0.95, marking a 12.63% surprise. Revenue also surpassed expectations, reaching $754.64 million against a forecast of $710.21 million. Following the announcement, Atmos Energy’s stock price increased by 3.04%, reflecting investor confidence.

Key Takeaways

• Atmos Energy’s Q4 EPS exceeded forecasts by 12.63%.
• Revenue for the quarter was $754.64 million, a 6.26% surprise over projections.
• The company announced its 23rd consecutive year of EPS growth.
• Stock price rose by 3.04% following earnings announcement.
• Fiscal 2026 EPS guidance is set between $8.15 and $8.35.

Company Performance

Atmos Energy continues to demonstrate robust performance, highlighted by its 23rd consecutive year of earnings per share growth and 41st year of dividend growth. The company has made significant investments in capital spending, with $3.6 billion dedicated to safety and reliability. The rate base increased by 14% to $21 billion, indicating strong infrastructure development.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: $754.64 million (up 6.26% from forecast)
• EPS: $1.07 (12.63% above forecast)
• Consolidated capital spending: $3.6 billion
• Rate base: $21 billion (up 14%)
• Operating and maintenance expenses: $874 million

Earnings vs. Forecast

Atmos Energy outperformed expectations with an EPS of $1.07, compared to the forecasted $0.95, resulting in a 12.63% surprise. Revenue also exceeded projections, with actual figures at $754.64 million against a forecast of $710.21 million, marking a 6.26% surprise. This performance aligns with the company’s historical trend of consistent growth.

Market Reaction

Following the earnings announcement, Atmos Energy’s stock price rose by 3.04%, closing at $176.5. This increase reflects investor optimism, with the stock nearing its 52-week high of $180.65. The positive market reaction aligns with the company’s strong financial performance and forward-looking guidance.

Outlook & Guidance

Atmos Energy provided an optimistic outlook for Fiscal 2026, with EPS guidance set between $8.15 and $8.35. The company expects annual earnings growth of 6-8% and projects its EPS to reach $10.80-$11.20 by Fiscal 2030. A significant five-year capital investment plan of $26 billion is anticipated, aiming for a 13-15% annual rate base growth.

Executive Commentary

CEO Kevin Akers emphasized the company’s commitment to safety and reliability, stating, "85% of our spend is dedicated towards safety and reliability." He also noted the company’s strategic positioning in supportive communities for natural gas, highlighting the affordability of natural gas compared to electric alternatives.

Risks and Challenges

• Regulatory changes could impact capital recovery and profitability.
• Fluctuations in natural gas prices, particularly at the Waha hub, may affect margins.
• Economic downturns could slow customer growth and capital investments.
• Increased competition from alternative energy sources poses long-term risks.
• Supply chain disruptions could delay infrastructure projects.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about the impact of Texas House Bill 4384 on capital recovery, the company’s approach to managing Waha gas price volatility, and the strategy for maintaining dividend growth. CEO Kevin Akers addressed these concerns, emphasizing the company’s proactive measures and long-term growth strategy.

Full transcript - Atmos Energy Corp (ATO) Q4 2025:

Tiffany, Conference Operator: Hello, and thank you for standing by. My name is Tiffany, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Atmos Energy Corporation Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker’s remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the call over to Dan Meziere, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Dan, please go ahead.

Dan Meziere, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer, Atmos Energy: Thank you, Tiffany. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings release and conference call slide presentation, which we will reference in our prepared remarks, are available at atmosenergy.com under the Investor Relations tab. As we review our financial results and discuss future expectations, please keep in mind that some of our discussion might contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act and the Securities Exchange Act. Our forward-looking statements and projections could differ materially from actual results. The factors that could cause such material differences are outlined on slide 37 and are more fully described in our SEC filings. I will now turn the call over to Kevin.

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: Thank you, Dan. As Tuesday is Veterans Day, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have served in our armed forces and those currently serving. Approximately 300 of our Atmos Energy teammates are part of the 18 million Americans who bravely served our country. Thank you for your service. Yesterday, we reported diluted earnings per share of $7.46. This marks the 23rd consecutive year of earnings per share growth. Fiscal 2025 also represents the 41st consecutive year of dividend growth. Our fiscal year results reflect the focus and dedication of the entire Atmos Energy team and their continued successful execution of our proven strategy of operating safely and reliably while we modernize our natural gas distribution, transmission, and storage systems. Their exceptional work has us well positioned for Fiscal 2026 and beyond.

During Fiscal 2025, we continue to experience solid customer growth, adding approximately 57,000 residential customers, with over 44,000 of those new customers located in Texas. We also added nearly 3,200 commercial customers and 29 industrial customers during Fiscal 2025. When these industrial customers are fully operational, they are anticipated to consume approximately 4 BCF of gas annually. This usage is equivalent to adding over 74,000 residential customers on a volumetric basis. Over the last five years, we have added nearly 300,000 residential and commercial customers. Over the last five years, we have added 225 industrial customers, with an estimated annual load of 63 BCF when fully operational. On a volumetric basis, this is equivalent to adding nearly 1.2 million residential customers. This growing natural gas demand from all of our customer classes continues to demonstrate the vital role natural gas has in economic development across our entire service territory.

According to the Texas Workforce Commission for the 12 months ending August, the seasonally adjusted number of employed Texans reached 14.35 million. Texas again added jobs at a faster rate than the nation over the last 12 months, growing at a rate of 1.14%. Texas was recently ranked the best state for business for the 21st year in a row by Chief Executive Magazine. According to the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the current population estimate for the metroplex is approximately 8.6 million people as of April 2025. Many analysts project the metroplex to be the third largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by 2030. The U.S. Census Bureau has the population for Texas at 31.3 million, and it is projected that Texas will reach a population of 32.4 million by 2030.

Now, turning to Atmos Pipeline Texas, our Bethel to Groesbeck project is nearing completion of approximately 55 mi of 36-inch pipeline from our Bethel storage facility to our Groesbeck compressor station. This project will provide additional pipeline capacity to transport gas from our Bethel storage facility into the growing DFW metroplex and the Interstate 35 corridor between Waco, Temple, and Austin. This project is anticipated to be in service late this calendar year. APT’s Line WA Loop phase 2 project is also nearing completion of approximately 44 mi of 36-inch pipeline. This phase of the multi-year project will provide additional pipeline capacity from our Line X to the northern areas of the growing DFW metroplex. This phase is anticipated to be in service late calendar year 2025.

APT completed our integrity inspection and verification per Texas code for our Bethel Salt Dome Caverns 2 and 3, and we have begun the integrity inspection and verification work on our Bethel Cavern number one. This work is expected to continue into late calendar year 2026. Turning to our updated five-year plan through Fiscal 2030, focus continues to be on safety and reliability through system modernization, being mindful of customer affordability, timely recovery of our costs through our various regulatory mechanisms, and maintaining a strong balance sheet. Following our robust five-year planning process, we plan to invest $26 billion, with approximately 85% of that planned investment allocated to safety and reliability. This investment will support the continued modernization of our natural gas distribution, transmission, and storage systems, and support the growing natural gas demand across our jurisdictions.

Approximately $21 billion, or 80% of our total planned capital spending, is expected to be incurred in Texas. The five-year plan reflects the impact of Texas House Bill 4384 on our earnings. As a reminder, House Bill 4384 reduces lag in Texas by permitting gas utilities to defer post-in-service carrying costs, depreciation, and ad valorem taxes associated with non-eligible Rule 8209 capital investments, such as customer growth and system expansion. With the passage of House Bill 4384, we will now begin to recover over 95% of our capital spending within six months and 99% within 12 months. We believe that successful execution of our strategy will support earnings per share growth at 6-8% from the midpoint of our rebased Fiscal 2026 ETS guidance. Additionally, we intend to grow the dividend in line with earnings per share growth.

Now, I’ll turn the call over to Chris, who will provide some additional color on Fiscal 25 and the Fiscal 26 five-year plan, and I’ll return later with some closing comments. Chris.

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us this morning. Before getting into the details of our Fiscal 2026 five-year plan, I wanted to share a few highlights from Fiscal 2025. As Kevin mentioned, Fiscal 2025 earnings per share was $7.46. Included in this amount is $0.12, resulting from the adoption of Texas House Bill 4384. Approximately $0.09 was recognized in our distribution business, and the remaining $0.03 was recognized at APT. Consolidated capital spending increased to $3.6 billion, with 87% dedicated to improving the safety and reliability of our system. In Fiscal 2025, we replaced over 880 mi of distribution and transmission pipes and nearly 54,000 service lines, and rate base increased by 14% to an estimated $21 billion as of September 30th. Consolidated O&M, excluding VAT expense, is $874 million. That is slightly above the midpoint of our updated guidance for Fiscal 2025.

O&M spending continued to focus on system monitoring and damage prevention activities. We also experienced higher employee-related costs, primarily due to increased headcount to support growth and higher employee training and administrative costs. We had another busy regulatory calendar in Fiscal 2025. We implemented $334 million in annualized operating income increases, excluding the amortization of excess deferred tax liabilities. We also completed general rate cases in Kentucky, portions of our Mid-Texas division, and in our West Texas division. Finally, we finished the fiscal year with an equity capitalization of 60% and approximately $4.9 billion for available liquidity, which leaves us well positioned to support our future operations. Now, this amount, $1.6 billion, relates to forward equity proceeds that we have priced through our ATM program. This amount fully satisfies our Fiscal 2026 equity needs and a portion of our anticipated Fiscal 2027 equity needs.

Looking forward, we have initiated our Fiscal 2026 earnings per share guidance in the range of $8.15-$8.35. Because of the impact from Texas House Bill 4384, we are rebasing our earnings per share guidance beginning this fiscal year. From the midpoint of this rebase guidance range, we anticipate earnings per share growth of 6-8% annually, with anticipated earnings per share in Fiscal 2030 to be in the range of $10.80-$11.20. Additionally, this week, Atmos Energy’s board of directors approved a 168th consecutive quarterly cash dividend, with an indicated Fiscal 2026 annual dividend of $4.00, a 15% increase over Fiscal 2025. This increase reflects the rebasing of the dividend to align with the rebase earnings per share guidance. Our updated five-year plan assumes that we’ve increased the dividend annually in line with earnings per share growth.

Over the next five years, we are planning approximately $26 billion in capital spending, with over 85% of our capital allocated to safety and reliability spending. This level of spending is expected to support 13-15% annual rate base growth. By the end of Fiscal 2030, we anticipate rate base to approximate $42 billion. In Fiscal 2026, we anticipate capital spending will approximate $4.2 billion. Approximately $21 billion, or 80% of our five-year spending plan, is currently allocated to Texas. Of this amount, approximately $15 billion is planned in our Texas distribution division, and approximately $6 billion is planned at APT as it continues to focus on gas supply reliability and supply diversification while fortifying its system to support the growth of its LDC customers. As a reminder, our Texas distribution operations have deferral mechanisms to support the recovery of safety-related spending.

Texas House Bill 4384 applies similar deferral treatment to our remaining capital spending in our Texas distribution business and to all of APT’s capital spending. As a result, we will now begin to recover 95% of our capital spending within six months. We anticipate that approximately 60% of the impact of Texas House Bill 4384 will be recognized in our distribution segment over the five-year plan. From a revenue perspective, we have assumed normal weather, market condition, and modest customer growth in both of our segments. In Fiscal 2026, most of our regulatory outcomes are anticipated to come through the execution of our annual regulatory filing process. For these filings, we are assuming existing ROEs, capital structures, and regulatory features, meaning we are not assuming the approval of new mechanisms or other new regulatory features.

Since beginning of Fiscal 2026, we have implemented $146 million in annualized operating income increases in our distribution segment. Of this amount, $139 million relates to the implementation of our annual rate review mechanism in Mid-Texas. Regarding O&M, we continue to assume 4% annual increases driven by system safety, system monitoring, and damage prevention activities, and employee costs. We will continue to evaluate options to accelerate compliance-related work as system conditions dictate or other opportunities arise. For Fiscal 2026, we currently anticipate O&M, excluding VAT expense, to range from $865 million-$885 million. Finally, this five-year plan includes approximately $16 billion in incremental long-term financing to support our operations and cash needs, including the expected payment of the corporate alternative minimum tax beginning in Fiscal 2027.

We will continue to use a combination of long-term debt and equity to preserve the strength of our balance sheet, minimize the cost of financing for our customers, and reduce financing risk. We continue to anticipate meeting all of our equity needs through our ATM program. As a reminder, this incremental financing is included in our earnings per share guidance for both Fiscal 2026 and through the five-year plan ending in Fiscal 2030. Thank you very much for your time this morning. Now I’ll turn it back over to Kevin for some closing remarks.

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: Thank you, Chris. Our operational and financial execution in Fiscal 2025 has laid the foundation for continued success into Fiscal 2026 and beyond. Our five-year plan supports our ability to meet the safety, reliability, and economic development expectations of our customers, our communities, and our key stakeholders across the service territory. As you’ve heard me say before, the things that differentiate Atmos Energy are that we operate in diversified and growing communities that are supportive of natural gas and our investment in natural gas infrastructure to supply their growing economy and energy needs. That 96% of our rate base is situated in six of our eight states that have passed customer choice or all fuels legislation. We operate in regulatory jurisdictions that support the reliability, versatility, abundance, and affordability of natural gas and the modernization of our natural gas distribution, transmission, and storage systems to provide safe and reliable delivery.

The strength of our balance sheet and available liquidity. We have a weighted average cost of debt of 4.2% with an average maturity of 17.5 years and currently have $4.9 billion in liquidity. That our residential customers’ average monthly natural gas bill is again expected to remain the lowest utility bill in the home. Consistent performance, 23 years of consecutive earnings per share growth and 41 consecutive years of dividend growth. That all 5,500 of us here at Atmos Energy proudly serve our customers and our communities as we continue to be guided by the simple values of our founding chairman, Charles K. Vaughn, of honesty, integrity, and good moral character. Those differentiators will continue to support the vital role we play in every community to safely deliver reliable, efficient natural gas to homes, businesses, and industry to fuel our energy needs now and in the future.

We appreciate your time this morning, and we now open the call for questions.

Tiffany, Conference Operator: At this time, if you would like to ask a question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, simply press star one again. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Jeremy Tornette with JP Morgan Securities. Please go ahead.

Hey, this is Eli on for Jeremy. Just wanted to start on maybe some of the larger load customers you guys are seeing across your service territory. Recognize that the Refresh Capital plan contemplates a lot of that demand. Can you just talk about and help quantify what’s in the plan and then what could kind of be incremental to that and just bifurcating those two? Thanks.

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: Yeah, again, as Chris said on the front end there, we’ve got 85% of our spend is dedicated towards safety and reliability. We do have some modest growth included in the plan as well. Most of that’s going to be focused on safety and reliability. We do have some additional fortifications that are in that to support that growth that our long-range planning models have indicated we need because of the folks moving into Texas and the demand anticipated with them coming in and the load from their use of natural gas. Any other thing that would be outside of that will be probably driven by safety, reliability, and anticipated fortifications to handle that additional growth.

Great. Maybe just talking a little bit about capital recovery, I know that you guys were able to kind of ratchet up the speed there. Can you just kind of talk a little bit more about how you are able to, how that flows into the plan and optimizes growth going forward? Just recognizing that is kind of some of the best capital recovery out there. Thanks.

Yeah. Again, we’re very blessed with the jurisdictions we serve in and recognize and support natural gas and our need to fuel these communities and meet the needs of all stakeholders: our communities, the state legislative bodies, and the overall demand for natural gas. I’d also say that we haven’t sped anything up. This has all been part of our planning process since 2011, 2012, and identifying the needs of the system, both safety, reliability, and growth. This has been on the same cadence year after year. Through our robust planning process, we go out and identify and look at our systems each year for the need, not only for population and demand growth, but also from a safety and reliability need, fortification need. This is all well laid out, well orchestrated through the demand models, the integrity models, the forecasting of population growth.

Year after year, we repeat that same sort of process. That is what drives the investment at the end of the day.

Awesome. Yeah. And then just if I could squeeze in one more, apologies, but just. I think the 2030 implied range is about seven and a half off the 26 midpoint. So is it kind of fair to say you guys are targeting the upper half of the CAGR? Thanks.

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: Hey, Jeremy, this is Chris. I mean, we talked about a 6-8% growth rate off of the rebase guidance range from the midpoint. That falls in line with that 6-8% expectation. That’s what we’re intending to pursue at this point in time.

Great. Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

Tiffany, Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Nicholas Campanella with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. Can you guys hear me okay?

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: We can. Yep. Good morning.

Hey, great. This is Fei for Nick today. And thanks very much for taking my question. Maybe just want to double-click on the EPS rebase if I could. Now seeing over 95% of CapEx is recovered within 12 months comparing to the previous 90%. Would you be able to just parse out how much incremental reg-like improvement are you seeing in this Refresh plan? Is it mostly coming from the Texas legislation, or is there something else baked into the assumption? Thanks.

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: Yeah, I’ll start and Chris can add as he wants to. Yeah. As we mentioned in our opening remarks, it’s all coming from the House Bill 4384. Again, our plan has been the same year after year on how we approach the capital budget. It’s by identified projects and needs of the system and supporting the growth. This 4384 will now allow us to include APT’s investment into its system as well.

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: Yeah. Nick, this is Chris. I’ll just remind you, again, on our regulatory cadence, annual filing mechanisms are contemplated throughout the five-year plan. We have a couple of small general rate cases that we plan to execute this year. The overall theme there is the recoverability. We assume in this five-year plan that there’s no new regulatory features, no new deferral mechanisms, regulatory asset treatment. Basically, we plan it based on what we know and have. State.

Understood. That’s very helpful. If I could, just on O&M budgeting for 2026, could you just help clarify on how are we getting to a lower assumption for 2026 and how does ramping to a 4% annual increase would evolve going deeper into the longer term? Thanks.

Yeah. I think that the guidance that we put out there is pretty much the midpoint of the guidance, is pretty consistent with where we were this year. We had some opportunities in fiscal 2025 to spend some additional O&M dollars and compliance-related activities. As we saw, market conditions at APT materialized, particularly in the second, third, and fourth quarter. We kind of reset the O&M plan based on what we need to do from a compliance budget, what we want to do from a system monitoring, system damage prevention activities. As I said, we’ll continue to evaluate that O&M throughout the year. If system conditions dictate or other opportunities arise, we’ll evaluate options and alternatives to pursue further compliance and safety-related spending.

Great. Thanks for all the color. Really helpful. I’ll leave it there.

Thank you.

Tiffany, Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Gabriel Marine with Mizuho. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Waha gas prices have been on a bit of a wild ride the last couple of weeks. I’m just wondering to what extent you’ve incorporated some of the deeply negative prices here that we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks into your guidance for 2026 and maybe what you’re assuming for the rest of the year as far as your Waha outlook?

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: Yeah. As we’ve done with all of our five-year plan roll forwards, we do not incorporate that in. We assume normal activity. We continue to monitor and look at that. We’re still very early into the season right now, just basically just out of October, if you will. It is something we’ll continue to keep our eye on as we move forward, but we do not try and use a crystal ball to forecast what’s going to happen with that market at all. We will continue to keep you updated on our quarterly calls.

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: Gabe, you know too that all that activity, to the extent that it materializes, 35% of that impact flows back for the benefit of our customers. Like Kevin said, we’ll keep an eye on it, and we’ll provide updates as we move through the fiscal year.

Thanks, guys. Maybe if I could follow up, it looks like you raised your long-term gas price assumption in the five-year outlook. Can you just talk about drivers behind that, if there’s anything beyond the forward curve? Also, was that an impact at all and maybe slightly moderating your kind of CapEx CAGR within the context of kind of how you’re viewing customer builds over the medium to long term?

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: Yeah. That is just the forward curve that is out there that we have available to us now. Again, I think if you go back and look at what we have projected in that long history on that slide, whether that is page 23 or 24 there, we generally have come in under that. Right now, that is just a forward-looking curve we are projecting outward on our customer bills. Again, I would probably point you to the pages 23 through 25 there as we talk about the customer bills and going forward. I would like to remind everybody that when we look at the household bills overall, our natural gas residential bill is, again, expected to be the lowest bill in the household going forward into 2026 at this point.

We continue to remain anywhere between two to almost five times more affordable than our electric counterparts in each of our states and jurisdictions that are out there. Again, there’s a slide out there on % share of wallet for our customers as well. We remain right at or below the natural gas industry average for a % of wallet share and about two to three times below the % of wallet share on the electric side. I believe we’re extremely well-positioned right now and always keep affordability at top of mind. That’s part of our both short-term, midterm, and long-term planning process. As we look at investments, we always run through what the potential impact may be on our customer base as well. Again, I feel like we are well-positioned and mindful of affordability.

Great. Thanks, Kevin. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Tiffany, Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Aditya Gandhi with Wolf Research. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Can you hear me?

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: Yes, we can.

Great. Maybe just starting on Texas HB 4384. Appreciate that you’ve rebased the ’26 range higher. Can you maybe just clarify what the annual impact from the legislation is? Just roughly? Is it fair to assume that if we annualize the $0.10 impact from Q4 that you mentioned on last quarter’s call, $0.40, is that a reasonable runway?

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: Thanks, Aditya and Chris. In the rebasing, we assumed the impact of House Bill 4384 and from fiscal 2025 to 2026 because we would have a full-year impact of House Bill 4384. That is why you are seeing that rebasing going forward. After that, it will begin to become a little bit more consistent year over year. Again, we factored all that into our 6%-8%. We have got a midpoint. The guidance range right now is right around $8.25. We will just intend to grow at 6%-8% off of that.

Okay. Thank you. Maybe just touching on the equity. You mentioned balanced equity and debt funding. Can you just clarify whether that sort of means 50% of that $16 billion, roughly 50% of that $16 billion over the course of your five-year plan? Could you give us a rough sense of how much equity you’re assuming in 2026 and how we should think about the cadence of equity beyond 2026?

Right. So looking at the incremental plan over five years, we’ve got roughly $16 billion that’s out there. We are very comfortable with our equity capitalization of approximately 60%. As of September 30, we intend to keep our equity capitalization at that level. I think the strength of the balance sheet is important for financial strength to be able to withstand unexpected events, supporting our customers if we need to in terms of moving our PGAs around as we pass through gas costs. When you think about capitalization being where it is, it’s roughly a 50/50 split between debt and equity. By year, you can see generally we’re about 50% of our annual cash needs are coming from our FFO number, which I think you have. You can apply by year in your modeling 50% roughly for equity, 50% for debt.

Great. Thank you.

Tiffany, Conference Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Julian Demoulin Smith with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Hi, team. This is Clark Allen for Julian. Can you guys hear me okay?

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: We can. Good morning.

Yeah. Congrats on the strong quarter. If I can quickly come back to the HB 4384 benefits, I appreciate the color on the prepared remarks. I believe you mentioned roughly 60% for distribution, 40% for APT. I’m just thinking, would that 60/40 split change meaningfully year over year, just given potentially different CapEx cadence at each segment each year?

Kevin Akers, President and Chief Executive Officer, Atmos Energy: No. We do not expect that. Again, our five-year planning process has been the same year in and year out. Our team does a robust deep dive into the needs of that and has it well laid out year after year. We are very confident in what we have put out there for the five-year plan.

Got it. Thank you. Another question on the dividend. I mean, nesting down on the dividend guide up here. Just given the durability of the HB 4384 uplift, is it fair to view this dividend guide up as a long-term guide up here?

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: I think in our prepared remarks, we mentioned that we moved the dividend 15% from $2.50 to $2.60 on an indicated basis to basically rebase that dividend in line with the rebase earnings per share guidance. We intend to grow the dividend 6%-8% over the next five years.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Tiffany, Conference Operator: That concludes our question and answer session. I will now turn the call back over to Dan Meziere for closing remarks.

Chris Forsythe, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Atmos Energy: We appreciate your interest in Atmos Energy. Thank you once again for joining us. Have a great day.

Tiffany, Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today’s call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.