Key Highlights

● Fiscal year-to-date net income was $1.2 billion, or $7.33 per diluted share.

● Management reaffirmed fiscal 2026 earnings guidance of $8.40 to $8.50 per diluted share.

● Texas House Bill 4384 reduced year-to-date results by $132 million.

● The board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share.

Atmos Energy (NYSE:ATO) is a Dallas-based natural gas utility. It runs regulated gas distribution businesses, with a heavy Texas presence, and an intrastate pipeline operation, Atmos Pipeline-Texas, or APT. Its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange as ATO.

On August 5, 2026 the company reported results for the third quarter of its fiscal year, which ended on June 30, 2026. The headline figures in the release are for the fiscal year to date: net income of $1.2 billion, or $7.33 per diluted share. At the half-year mark the equivalent figures had been $984.9 million and $5.92 per share. Management reaffirmed fiscal 2026 earnings guidance of $8.40 to $8.50 per diluted share, which had been raised in May from $8.15 to $8.35. Guidance is a management expectation, not a reported result. Year-to-date earnings per share growth was cited at 14.5%.

Capital spending and regulatory recovery

The model rests on investing in pipe replacement and system upgrades, then recovering the cost through rates. The release reports capital expenditure of $3.1 billion, with more than 85% directed to safety and reliability, and guides to roughly $4.2 billion for the full fiscal year. The company has implemented $355.0 million of annualized regulatory outcomes, and on the call management cited $396 million of annualized operating income increases implemented since the fiscal year began. Seven pending filings seek about $334 million more, mostly expected to take effect in the first quarter of fiscal 2027.

Not everything has helped earnings. Texas House Bill 4384 reduced year-to-date results by $132 million, or $0.63 per share, and APT's pipeline spreads narrowed after new takeaway capacity arrived early, so second-half APT earnings are now expected near the low end of a $0.08 to $0.12 per share range. Management has indicated fiscal 2027 earnings growth of 6 to 8% from the 2026 guidance range, and a refreshed five-year plan is due in the fall. The 2027 range is guidance, and may change with regulatory outcomes, interest rates and financing conditions in the coming year.

Dividend and balance sheet support

The board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share, payable on September 8, 2026 to holders of record on August 24, 2026. That equates to an indicated annual dividend of $4.00 for fiscal 2026, a 14.9% increase on fiscal 2025. At the guidance midpoint of $8.45, the indicated dividend represents a payout of just under half of expected earnings.

Funding looks well supported on the reported figures. Equity represented 60% of capitalization, there was no short-term debt, and available liquidity was $4.6 billion. Roughly $937 million of forward-sale equity proceeds is expected to cover remaining fiscal 2026 equity needs and much of fiscal 2027. The dividend's durability still depends on market access and timely regulatory recovery.

Texas Legislation Risk and the November 4 Report

Atmos Energy is a constituent of the S&P 500, where S&P Dow Jones Indices classifies it in the Gas Utilities sub-industry. It joined on February 15, 2019. Its earnings are tied to rate decisions and invested capital rather than economic growth alone, so it behaves differently from most index members.

Key risks include adverse regulatory or legislative outcomes, as the Texas legislation shows, rising interest rates that raise financing costs, weather and customer growth, execution on a very large construction program, and the volatility of APT earnings. About 51,000 customers were added in the twelve months to June 30, around 39,000 in Texas.

Atmos will release fiscal 2026 year-end results after the market close on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, followed by a conference call on Thursday, November 5 at 10 a.m. Eastern.