By Connor Hart

Entergy's fourth-quarter profit fell as expenses increased, driven by continually higher electricity consumption in the Louisiana electricity provider's service area.

The New Orleans utility owner on Thursday posted a profit of $236 million, or 51 cents a share, compared with $286 million, or 65 cents a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, earnings were also 51 cents a share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted earnings of 52 cents a share.

Entergy sold 1.2% more gigawatt-hours of energy during the period than a year ago. An increase in sales to residential and industrial customers offset a decline in sales to governmental customers.

Total customers edged 0.7% higher, to about 3.06 million.

The company, which provides power in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas, said operation and maintenance costs per megawatt-hour of energy climbed 8.6%, to $26.67.

Chief Executive Drew Marsh said the company's growth is supported by significant electric service agreements that it is entering with data centers and traditional industrial customers.

Looking ahead, Entergy guided for adjusted earnings of $4.25 to $4.45 a share for the coming year. That compares with analyst views for $4.38 a share.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 12, 2026 07:10 ET (12:10 GMT)

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