Midwest Data Centers Will Power Future Electrification And Decarbonization

Key Takeaways

• Surging demand from data centers and population growth is driving strong revenue and long-term earnings prospects, supported by adaptive planning and regulatory flexibility.
  
• Strategic investments in renewables and infrastructure modernization align with decarbonization trends, enhancing margins and attracting increased ESG-focused capital.
  
• Heavy dependence on large-scale data center projects, regulatory outcomes, and fossil fuel investments brings significant risks to earnings growth, shareholder returns, and capital allocation efficiency.

Catalysts

Operates as a utility holding company that provides regulated electric and natural gas services in the United States.

• The accelerating construction and onboarding of large-scale data centers in Alliant's Midwest service areas highlight a strong, sustained uptick in electricity demand, directly linked to population and economic growth in the region, which is expected to drive significant increases in revenue and top-line growth over the next several years.
  
• The company's adaptive resource planning and regulatory flexibility in Iowa and Wisconsin allows rapid deployment of new generation capacity, positioning Alliant to capture higher allowed returns and efficiently expand its regulated asset base, supporting long-term earnings growth and margin expansion.
  
• Alliant's robust pipeline and high-confidence (85% close rate) on advanced negotiations for new load-including multi-phase mega data center projects-provide clear visibility into incremental load growth, which will require sizable, incremental capital investments that are likely to be accretive to earnings and free cash flow.
  
• Strong momentum in renewable project execution, including safe harboring of key tax credits and flexibility to pivot generation technology, ensures continued access to federal and state policy incentives and maintains low cost of capital, supporting both net margin improvement and future EPS growth.
  
• The company's proactive alignment with customer demand, decarbonization, and infrastructure modernization trends positions it to benefit from both rising ESG capital inflows and increasing electricity volumes tied to electrification of industry and digital infrastructure, positively impacting long-term revenue and earnings trajectory.

Alliant Energy Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Alliant Energy's revenue will grow by 5.1% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 20.1% today to 21.5% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $1.0 billion (and earnings per share of $3.81) by about August 2028, up from $832.0 million today.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 20.5x on those 2028 earnings, up from 20.2x today. This future PE is lower than the current PE for the US Electric Utilities industry at 20.7x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 0.18% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 6.78%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Alliant Energy Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Heavy reliance on large-scale data center projects for future load and growth introduces concentration risk; delays, cancellations, or slower-than-expected onboarding of announced projects like QTS could significantly reduce anticipated revenue and undermine earnings growth expectations.
  
• Substantial incremental capital expenditures required to serve new data center and economic development load, largely funded through new equity issuances (40–50% of CapEx), may result in shareholder dilution and pressure on per-share earnings and returns, especially if load growth is slower or project returns are lower than projected.
  
• High dependence on maintaining favorable regulatory relationships and rate approvals in Iowa and Wisconsin exposes Alliant to political and regulatory risk-any shift to less constructive frameworks or denial/delay of key filings could compress allowed returns, erode margins, or impede planned investments.
  
• Rising reliance on fossil gas turbines (as indicated for new load) increases exposure to policy risk from future decarbonization mandates, evolving ESG standards, and potential shifts in tax credit structure, all of which could drive higher operating costs or strain access to low-cost capital, pressuring net income and return on equity.
  
• Intense sector-wide competition for capital projects and data center load (with possible double counting and overestimated opportunity pipeline) may result in overbuilding, reduced project profitability, or misallocation of capital, leading to lower-than-expected revenue growth and long-term earnings volatility.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of $67.5 for Alliant Energy based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $72.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $60.0.
  
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $4.8 billion, earnings will come to $1.0 billion, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 20.5x, assuming you use a discount rate of 6.8%.
  
• Given the current share price of $65.37, the analyst price target of $67.5 is 3.2% higher. The relatively low difference between the current share price and the analyst consensus price target indicates that they believe on average, the company is fairly priced.
  
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.