Black Hills Corporation operates as an American utility firm, delivering both electric power and natural gas through its subsidiaries. Its business is ...
Black Hills Corporation (NYSE: BKH) is a customer-focused, growth-oriented utility company with a tradition of improving life with energy and a vision to be the energy partner of choice. The company operates through two primary divisions: Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity ...Black Hills Corporation (NYSE: BKH) is a customer-focused, growth-oriented utility company with a tradition of improving life with energy and a vision to be the energy partner of choice. The company operates through two primary divisions: Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to about 218,000 customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming, with a generation capacity of 1,481.5 megawatts from wind, natural gas, and coal-fired plants, and maintains 8,892 miles of transmission and distribution lines. The Gas Utilities segment provides natural gas to approximately 1,094,000 customers across Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wyoming, operating 4,732 miles of intrastate gas transmission pipelines, 41,644 miles of distribution mains and service lines, six natural gas storage facilities, and about 50,000 horsepower of compression. Beyond core utility services, the company constructs and maintains gas infrastructure and offers appliance repair and electrical system construction services. Financially, the company shows a market cap of about $5.68 billion, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a dividend yield of 3.7%, and an enterprise value of $10.11 billion. Key financial metrics include a net profit margin of 13%, return on equity of 7.7%, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Under the leadership of President and CEO Linden R. Evans, who has been in the role since 2019, the company focuses on safe, reliable, and affordable energy delivery while investing in modern generating facilities and renewable energy. With approximately 2,800 employees, Black Hills Energy is committed to making a positive impact in the communities it serves and aims to be the energy partner of choice.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$2.3B
+8.6%
-42.0%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$291.6M
+6.8%
-70.8%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+38.5%
-2.6%
+168.4%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
+23.3%
-1.6%
-16.3%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
+12.6%
-1.7%
-49.7%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$-146.4M
-488.0%
+74.8%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
-6.3%
-441.6%
+56.5%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
122.9%
-1.8%
-3.4%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
1.35x
+38.4%
-19.0%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q2 26 Black Hills Corporation Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question, please press 11 on your teleph1 and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press 11 again. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Salvador Diaz. Director, Investor Relations.
Salvador Diaz: Thank you, operator. Good morning, and welcome to Black Hills Corporation's Second Quarter 26 Earnings Conference Call. You can find our earnings release and materials for our call this morning on our website at blackhillscorp.com. Leading our earnings call are Linden R. Evans, President and Chief Executive Officer; Kimberly F. Noly, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Marne Jis, Senior Vice President and Chief Utility Officer. During today's earnings discussion, comments we make may contain forward-looking statements as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. And there are a number of uncertainties inherent in such comments. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially. We direct you to our earnings release, Slide 2 of the investor presentation on our website, our most recent Form 10-Ks and Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a list of some of the factors that could cause future results to differ materially from our expectations. With that, I will now turn the call over to Linden R. Evans.
Linden R. Evans: Thank you, Salvador. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today. I will provide a summary of our strategic progress through the first half of the year, including an overview of our large load demand pipeline, and our pending merger with Northwestern Energy. Kimberly will provide our financial update, and Marne will provide our business update, including our continued progress on large scale opportunities and our ongoing strategic regulatory activities. I am extremely proud of what our team has already accomplished in the first half of the year. I am excited about the opportunities ahead as we deliver results for our stakeholders. Our key achievements for the second quarter are listed on slide 3, and I will provide remarks on a few of them. Focused on delivering on our financial commitments, and I am pleased to report that we continue to be on track to achieve our earnings guidance for the year. We maintained our solid financial position and credit ratings while executing on our nearly $1 billion capital plan for the year to serve the energy needs of our customers. This includes our 99 megawatt Lange II generation project, which is on schedule to be placed in service later this year in South Dakota. Our team continues to execute …
