Constellation forgoes earnings call for first time since spinoff

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By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Constellation Energy CEG.O, the largest U.S. nuclear power operator, skipped its quarterly earnings investor call on Tuesday for the first time since going public three years ago.

The earnings call was supplanted by a management call on January 10, a Constellation spokesperson said, when the company announced a proposed $16.4 billion acquisition of private natural gas and geothermal provider Calpine in one of the biggest U.S. power industry deals.

"Given the timing of that call and the depth of information shared, we determined that a call this quarter was redundant," Constellation spokesman Paul Adams said, adding that the Calpine discussion included forward-looking earnings guidance. "We remain committed to transparency."

A first-quarter earnings conference is scheduled for May, Adams said.

The lack of a call surprised some analysts.

A discussion on Tuesday would have allowed for questions about Constellation's full-year 2024 results, the Calpine acquisition and other company matters, Bank of America analysts said in a note. The cancellation surprised some analysts.

Constellation, which was spun off from Exelon in early 2022, released stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings earlier on Tuesday. Its shares rose about 2.5% at mid-afternoon.

Constellation is among the biggest stock market winners in the past year, rising roughly 150% from a surge in demand from artificial intelligence data centers.

The independent power producer has recently landed lucrative contracts, including one to restart a Three Mile Island nuclear reactor for Microsoft data centers.

BofA and J.P. Morgan analysts said a meeting between Constellation and regulators on Thursday could be a catalyst for the stock. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may address Constellation's complaint over rules governing co-located commercial arrangements, in which data centers directly connect to a power plant.

Co-location has become a possible solution for quickly powering data centers without the wait times for connecting to the broader grid, but critics have raised reliability and cost concerns over the setup.