NRG Energy is no longer priced as a clean data-center compounder. The January close of the LS Power generation fleet and CPower demand-response platform doubled owned capacity to about 25 GW, yet the second-quarter print showed the cost of that scale in interest, depreciation, and extra shares. Adjusted earnings per share fell even as adjusted EBITDA rose. The equity has slid from the top of its fifty-two-week range toward the floor, treating the hyperscaler story as unsigned optionality rather than contracted cash.
Texas, the historic profit engine, posted $381 million of adjusted EBITDA after a mild winter and higher supply costs. East adjusted EBITDA reached $469 million as the new plants and higher capacity prices carried the quarter. Vivint kept adding subscribers and lifted recurring service margin. GAAP net income swung to a profit, but a large mark-to-market hedge reversal did much of the lifting. The operating story is a mix shift, not a clean earnings upgrade.
Management reaffirmed the $5,325 million to $5,825 million adjusted EBITDA band. A 1.2 GW Texas combined-cycle project with a hyperscaler remains short of final documents. Buybacks continued even as first-half operating cash declined. The next several quarters resolve whether East cash conversion and a signed Bring Your Own Power contract restore per-share earnings, or whether leverage and Texas weather keep the multiple compressed.