By Hamza Faisal

Constellation Energy delivered a blowout third quarter on Monday, reporting adjusted earnings of $5.06 per share, far above the $3.90 analysts had expected, as revenue surged 45% to $9.55 billion and the company raised its full-year profit outlook.

The results, released before the US market opened, underline how quickly surging electricity demand from artificial intelligence data centres is reshaping America's largest nuclear power operator. Revenue jumped from $6.57 billion a year earlier, while GAAP net income nearly doubled to $1.84 billion and GAAP diluted earnings per share rose 75% to $5.19, up from $2.97.

Shares rose more than 4% in pre-market trading after the report.

The Calpine effect

The biggest driver of the quarter was Constellation's January acquisition of Calpine, which added a large fleet of natural gas plants to its nuclear-heavy portfolio. Adjusted operating earnings climbed 88% to $1.79 billion, up from $952 million a year earlier, as favourable market conditions and the expanded fleet more than offset higher interest costs.

GAAP operating income more than doubled to $2.49 billion, lifting the operating margin to 26.1% from 16.5% a year ago, even as operating expenses rose about 29% to $7.07 billion. Net interest expense also climbed to $217 million from $134 million, reflecting the debt taken on to fund the Calpine deal.

Constellation said the earnings beat was driven primarily by favourable market and portfolio conditions and the addition of Calpine, partly offset by unfavourable interest impacts and its nuclear production tax credit portfolio.

Nuclear fleet holds steady as AI demand grows

The company's nuclear fleet, the largest in the United States, produced 46,677 gigawatt-hours of electricity during the quarter, about 0.4% more than a year earlier, as strong operations and efficient handling of planned refuelling outages kept output steady.

That reliability matters more than ever. Tech giants building AI data centres need enormous amounts of round-the-clock power, and nuclear plants are among the few sources that can deliver it without carbon emissions. Constellation has already signed long-term power deals with Microsoft and Meta, and the wider industry is racing to lock in supply as data centre construction accelerates.

The quarter also benefited from higher capacity revenues in PJM, the grid operator covering much of the US mid-Atlantic, where tight supply has pushed up the payments power plants receive simply for being available.

Guidance raised

Looking ahead, Constellation raised the midpoint and narrowed its full-year 2026 adjusted operating earnings guidance to $12.50 to $12.80 per share. The company did not provide a GAAP reconciliation, saying future fair-value adjustments and other items cannot be projected with enough certainty.

Management is due to discuss the results with analysts on a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time, where investors will be listening for updates on new data centre power contracts and the integration of Calpine's plants. With AI power demand still climbing, Constellation's third quarter suggests the nuclear giant is well positioned to keep cashing in.