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FRESH Analysis Report
Aug 22, 2026
1 day ago · 100% complete
For AI assistants & researchers — machine-readable summary of this page

What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PEG) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.

Our current read (analysis of 2026-08-23): Designation Bounce · Gem Score -11 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality -29 · Value 3 · Sentiment 9 (timing only, not weighted) · Composite fair value $81.90 vs $72.61 at analysis

Page map (sections in order; each card carries a stable reference-name attribute you can cite):

  • profile-header / price-overview — company profile, live quote, market cap
  • extended-analysisthe core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memo
  • future-predictions — our forward price-band predictions
  • market-narrative / ai-findings / gpt-critique — narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)
  • Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers): price-history, income-trend, key-metrics, financials (statement tables), insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.

More for machine readers: site briefing at /llms.txt · any ticker resolves at delvantic.com/stock/TICKER · raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds); every model, score, lens read, and prediction on this page is Delvantic's own analysis.

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated

PEG NYSE
Utilities · Utilities - Regulated Electric
Newark, NJ 07102, United States investor.pseg.com Updated Aug 22, 4:31pm
Price
$72.61
Market Cap
$36.2B
Employees
13,189
Beta
0.53
Avg Volume
2,729,931
Last Dividend
$2.60
CEO
Mr. Ralph A. LaRossa

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated is a diversified energy company focused on regulated electric and gas utility operations and related generation activities in the United States. Through its principal subsidiary, Public Service Electric & Gas Company, it provides electric and natural gas distribution services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers across New Jersey, ensuring reliable delivery of essential energy. The company also participates in power generation primarily through nuclear and other clean energy assets, offering energy, capacity, ancillary services, and related market products. Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated plays a significant role in regional grid reliability and supports critical infrastructure, serving densely populated urban and suburban areas. Headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, it operates within the regulated utilities sector, with activities that span transmission and distribution, energy supply, and operational management of utility systems under long-term service arrangements. The company’s current focus is on safe, dependable service, system resiliency, and supporting broader environmental and regulatory standards in the U.S. energy market.

Runs with full report Generated: Aug 22, 2026 4:40pm
Price Overview
Price at report time
$72.61
as of Aug 22, 4:31pm (1d ago)
Change · Aug 22
-2.01 (-2.69%)
Day Range
$72.60 – $74.97
52-Week Range
$72.60 – $87.63
50-Day MA
$78.67
200-Day MA
$80.40
Volume
2,356,900.00
Right now · live
Log in to get the live feed
Members see the real-time price and the move since this report (over 1d).
Share Structure
Outstanding 498,000,000.00
Float 497,099,217.00
Free Float 99.8%
High free float — 99.8% of shares trade freely, ~0.2% held by insiders/institutions
Very liquid — most shares trade freely. Low insider ownership can mean less management alignment, but makes large position sizing straightforward.
Price History (1 Year)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:50pm (1d ago)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
The directional story — useful even when net income is negative.
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:50pm (1d ago)
Revenue
The top line — total sales before any costs or taxes are subtracted. A measure of how much business the company is doing.
Net Income
The bottom line — profit left after subtracting all expenses, interest, and taxes from revenue. Reflects accounting profitability, but includes non-cash items like depreciation, so it isn't the same as cash earned.
Operating Cash Flow
The real cash generated by the day-to-day business — selling products, paying suppliers, collecting from customers. Calculated from net income by adding back non-cash items and adjusting for timing (unpaid bills, unsold inventory). When OCF consistently lags net income, the reported profit may not be converting to real money.
Period Revenue Net Income Net Margin YoY/QoQ
Key Metrics
TD Twelve Data statement HEX SEC filing
Industry comparison last run: Aug 22, 2026 4:38pm
P/E Ratio (Price per dollar of earnings)
HEX
Stock Price / EPS (Diluted)
17.21
Stock Price: $72.61
EPS (Diluted): 4.22
P/B Ratio (Price vs net asset value)
HEX
Stock Price / Book Value Per Share
2.14
Stock Price: $72.61
Total Equity: $16.98B
Shares: 501,000,000
EV/EBITDA (Total value vs operating profit)
HEX
Enterprise Value / EBITDA
Market Cap: $36.19B
Total Debt: $22.55B
Cash: $132.00M
EBITDA: N/A
EBITDA not available
Enterprise Value (Takeover price (cap + debt - cash))
HEX
Market Cap + Total Debt - Cash
$58.6B
Market Cap: $36.19B
Total Debt: $22.55B
Cash: $132.00M
Gross Margin (Revenue left after direct costs)
HEX
Gross Profit / Revenue
65.8%
Gross Profit: $8.01B
Revenue: $12.17B
Operating Margin (Revenue left after all operations)
HEX
Operating Income / Revenue
24.5%
Operating Income: $2.98B
Revenue: $12.17B
Net Margin (Revenue left as actual profit)
HEX
Net Income / Revenue
17.3%
Net Income: $2.11B
Revenue: $12.17B
ROE (Profit from shareholder equity)
HEX
Net Income / Total Equity
12.4%
Net Income: $2.11B
Total Equity: $16.98B
ROIC (Profit from all invested capital)
HEX
NOPAT / Invested Capital
6.7%
Operating Income: $2.98B
Tax Rate: 11.1%
Equity: $16.98B
Total Debt: $22.55B
Cash: $132.00M
Current Ratio (Can it pay short-term bills)
HEX
Current Assets / Current Liabilities
0.80
Current Assets: $4.60B
Current Liabilities: $5.74B
Debt/Equity (Leverage — debt vs equity)
HEX
Total Debt / Total Equity
1.33
Short-Term Debt: $875.00M
Long-Term Debt: $21.67B
Total Debt: $22.55B
Total Equity: $16.98B
Rev/Share (Top-line per share)
HEX
Revenue / Shares Outstanding
$24.29
Revenue: $12.17B
Shares: 501,000,000
Book Value/Share (Net assets per share)
HEX
(Total Assets - Total Liabilities) / Shares
$33.90
Total Equity: $16.98B
Shares: 501,000,000
FCF/Share (Real cash generated per share)
HEX
(Operating Cash Flow + CapEx) / Shares
$0.05
Operating CF: $3.30B
CapEx: -$3.27B
Shares: 501,000,000
CapEx is negative (outflow) — added to OCF to get FCF
Div Yield (Annual income from holding)
TD
Last Annual Dividend / Stock Price
3.6%
Last Dividend: $2.60
Stock Price: $72.61
Payout Ratio (Earnings paid out as dividends)
HEX
Dividends Paid / Net Income
59.6%
Dividends Paid: -$1.26B
Net Income: $2.11B
Industry Benchmarks
Last run: Aug 22, 2026 4:38pm
Compares PEG against LLM-researched typical ranges for its industry. One research call per industry, cached indefinitely — every stock in the same industry reuses the same baseline.
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:50pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Revenue $9.7B $9.8B $11.2B $10.3B $12.2B
Cost of Revenue $3.5B $4.0B $3.3B $3.4B $4.2B
Gross Profit $6.2B $5.8B $8.0B $6.9B $8.0B
Operating Expenses $7.1B $4.4B $4.3B $4.5B $5.0B
Operating Income -$856.0M $1.4B $3.7B $2.4B $3.0B
Net Income -$648.0M $1.0B $2.6B $1.8B $2.1B
EBITDA
EPS $-1.29 $2.07 $5.15 $3.56 $4.23
EPS (Diluted) $-1.29 $2.06 $5.13 $3.54 $4.22
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:32pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Cash & Equivalents $818.0M $465.0M $54.0M $125.0M $132.0M
Total Current Assets $6.3B $4.3B $3.4B $4.2B $4.6B
Total Assets $49.0B $48.7B $50.7B $54.6B $57.6B
Current Liabilities $7.1B $6.7B $5.1B $6.5B $5.7B
Long-Term Debt $15.2B $16.5B $17.8B $19.0B $21.7B
Total Liabilities $34.6B $35.0B $35.3B $38.5B $40.6B
Total Equity $14.4B $13.7B $15.5B $16.1B $17.0B
Retained Earnings $10.6B $10.6B $12.0B $12.6B $13.4B
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:50pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Operating Cash Flow $1.7B $1.5B $3.8B $2.1B $3.3B
Capital Expenditure -$2.7B -$2.9B -$3.3B -$3.4B -$3.3B
Free Cash Flow -$983.0M -$1.4B $481.0M -$1.2B $26.0M
Acquisitions (net)
Net Debt Issued / (Repaid) -$700.0M -$1.6B -$1.5B -$2.2B
Dividends Paid -$1.0B -$1.1B -$1.1B -$1.2B -$1.3B
Stock Buybacks $0 -$500.0M $0 $0
Net Change in Cash
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 4:50pm (1d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2024 2025
Revenue Growth +0.8% +14.7% -8.4% +18.3%
Gross Profit Growth -7.1% +38.0% -13.5% +16.1%
Operating Income Growth +261.3% +166.8% -36.1% +26.6%
Net Income Growth +259.1% +148.6% -30.9% +19.1%
EBITDA Growth
Dividend History (Last 20)
Last updated: Aug 19, 2026 12:05am (4d ago)
Date Dividend Declaration Record Payment
2026-06-09 $0.67
2026-03-10 $0.67
2025-12-10 $0.63
2025-09-09 $0.63
2025-06-09 $0.63
2025-03-10 $0.63
2024-12-10 $0.60
2024-09-09 $0.60
2024-06-07 $0.60
2024-03-07 $0.60
2023-12-07 $0.57
2023-09-07 $0.57
2023-06-08 $0.57
2023-03-09 $0.57
2022-12-08 $0.54
2022-09-08 $0.54
2022-06-08 $0.54
2022-03-09 $0.54
2021-12-08 $0.51
2021-09-07 $0.51
0Company Classification 1Industry Landscape 2Company Momentum 3Forward Projection 4aDCF Valuation 4bEarnings Power Value 4cAnchored PE 4dReverse DCF 4eRevenue-Based DCF 4fAnchored P/S 4gScenario Analysis 4hDividend Discount Model 4iBook Value Analysis 4jInsider Activity 4fCash Flow Quality 4gDebt Maturity Risk 4hMacro Environment 4iSector Intelligence 4jRevenue Confidence 4kSensitivity Analysis 4lSector Demand Cycle 5AI Investigation 5bThesis Evaluation 6Valuation Synthesis
computed not applicable not yet run 15 computed · 6 not applicable · 3 not yet run
Narrative Economics
The story the market is telling about this stock — the intangible X-factor (founder mythology, cult dynamics, TAM-of-imagination) that moves price beyond what cash flows alone explain. After Shiller, Narrative Economics.
No narrative profile yet for PEG — it's generated by the pipeline (market-narrative step).
Growth Outlook
Analyzed 2026-08-22 16:56

The question every valuation on this page silently assumes: is this company likely to grow? Judged forward — the business, its category, the world — against what's already printed.

Growing A regulated New Jersey rate-base compounder with nuclear optionality: recent revenue (+18%) and earnings (+19%) YoY outpace an expanding sector, and the growth is mechanical (capex-driven rate base plus load growth from data centers), not cyclical — but capped in the 5-7% EPS range, not accelerating. conf 7/10
Share gain Category growing · Category (regulated electric) is in expansion: ~6.4% industry revenue CAGR, 15.8% earnings CAGR, margins widening ~2.6-2.8pp, median recent growth ~9.8%. PEG's recent YoY of +18.3% revenue and +19% earnings sits above that, a +8.8pp gap. Some of that gap is pass-through/weather rather than durable outperformance, so treat it as holding-to-modestly-gaining share of a rising pool rather than a structural share grab.
Next 2 quarters
Growing
Regulated delivery revenue and approved rate mechanisms carry the next two prints; comps are helped by capacity price step-ups and load, though the +18% headline rate will normalize as weather/commodity pass-through anniversaries out. Expect mid-single-digit to high-single-digit EPS growth rather than a repeat of the recent spike.
≈ inline with expectations
Year 1
Growing
Management's regulated growth framework (rate-base driven, roughly 5-7% EPS) is the operative constraint and it is well supported: capex is approved, load is rising, and generation is contracted. Higher interest expense and equity funding trim the top of the range.
≈ inline with expectations
Years 2–3
Growing
Structurally the earnings power grows: rate base compounds, PJM scarcity supports the nuclear fleet, and demand from electrification/data centers is a multi-year not one-year phenomenon. Ceiling is set by regulatory affordability and financing cost, so the growth is steady rather than accelerating; the negative multi-year earnings CAGR and heavy negative FCF argue against calling anything stronger.
↑ above expectations
The creme: each rung's call measured against what's already printed (vs analyst estimates · vs guidance / FY consensus · vs price-implied growth) — expectations in print are already in the price, so only the variant margin can pay. Hover a rung's chip for the margin read.
Growth drivers
74 Rate-base capex compounding — PSE&G's regulated infrastructure program (T&D, gas modernization, clean energy) converts approved capital into near-mechanical earnings growth. This is the single most reliable driver of PEG's forward EPS and largely explains the 5-7% long-run growth shape independent of the economy.
51 Company outgrowing its category — Recent YoY revenue +18.3% vs industry ~9.4% (a +8.8pp gap) and earnings +19% against a sector already expanding at ~9.8% median. Even allowing for weather/commodity pass-through noise, PEG is not losing position inside a growing category.
45 Northeast load growth / data-center demand — PJM capacity prices and new large-load interconnection in a dense service territory raise both delivery volumes and the value of PEG's nuclear fleet's carbon-free output — a genuine step-change in the demand curve for the first time in two decades.
30 Beat cadence on EPS — Three of the last four prints beat (+7%, +8%, +1%); the single large miss was a small-absolute seasonal quarter (-0.02 vs 0.04) where percentage terms exaggerate. Execution against guidance has been consistent.
26 Nuclear PPA / contracting optionality — Zero-carbon baseload with credit-support mechanisms plus potential long-term bilateral deals with hyperscalers offers upside to the generation segment that isn't in the regulated growth math.
Growth risks
56 New Jersey regulatory and affordability politics — Rising customer bills in NJ have made rate cases politically fraught; disallowed capex, lagged recovery, or ordered bill credits would directly clip the rate-base growth mechanism. This is the primary structural risk to the 5-7% shape.
39 Rate/financing cost pressure — With the 10y at 4.69% and macro flagged as headwinds, a heavily levered, capex-hungry utility faces higher incremental debt cost and equity-issuance needs, which shaves net growth even when rate base grows.
38 Weak cash conversion — FCF CAGR deeply negative (-0.77) and multi-year earnings CAGR -9.2% — growth is being funded, not self-generated. Any capex step-up without timely recovery pressures the balance sheet and the dividend growth runway.
31 Reported volatility / noisy base — Revenue volatility 0.133, quarterly trend flagged 'decelerating', not all years positive. The 18% YoY is partly weather and commodity pass-through; the underlying regulated growth rate is much lower, so the headline overstate risk is real.
20 Merchant/nuclear price exposure — Un-hedged portions of generation output are exposed to power and capacity price reversal; PJM prices normalizing lower would remove a chunk of recent non-regulated upside.
Electricity demand in the US has inflected upward after twenty flat years — electrification plus data-center load — and PJM, PEG's market, is where that scarcity is priciest. That makes carbon-free nuclear baseload and delivery infrastructure structurally more valuable, and regulators generally must approve the capex to keep the lights on. The counterweight is entirely political and financial rather than demand-driven: 4.69% long rates raise the cost of financing a capex-heavy balance sheet, and New Jersey affordability politics put a ceiling on how fast bills, and therefore rate base returns, can rise. Net: demand tailwind is real and durable; the constraint has moved from customers to regulators and lenders.
Growth position composite +21
ShrinkingStallingHoldingGrowingAccelerating
70Next 2 quarters · Growing
70Year 1 · Growing
70Years 2–3 · Growing
+21Composite (−100…+100)
A research prediction, not advice. Forward-graded: each rung is scored against the prints that follow it. Not an input to the GEM designation — track record first.
Claude Reading
Independent analyst synthesis · claude-opus-4-7 · generated 2026-08-22 16:49:07
Verdict Fairly valued near $72; synthesis's $83 target overstates upside — buy under $65 for the 9% total return, otherwise pass; not a value trap but not a bargain either.

The raw numbers tell a coherent regulated-utility story that the models are overcomplicating. Trailing four quarters (Q3'25 through Q2'26) sum to ~$12.55B revenue and ~$2.01B net income — roughly flat-to-slightly-down from FY2025's $12.17B/$2.11B, but with the seasonal Q1 spike ($3.85B/$741M) confirming the winter-heavy load pattern intact. The recent_revenue_yoy of 18.3% is a Q1 comp artifact against a weak Q1'24 ($10.29B FY24 vs $12.17B FY25 was a genuine step-up), not an ongoing acceleration — Q2'26 at $2.55B is actually *down* from Q2'25's $2.81B by 9.3%. So the "decelerating" quarterly trend flag is right; the "18.3% yoy" number is misleading. Net margin at 17.4% TTM is healthy for a regulated utility and consistent with rate-base earning power, not a distortion.

The balance sheet is where I part ways with the sanguine reads. $22.55B debt against $132M cash and $16.98B equity gives D/E 1.33x, but the real issue is FCF: $26M on $3.30B OCF because capex ate $3.27B. That's the AI-capex thesis in numeric form — PSEG is spending its entire operating cash flow on rate base expansion and funding the $2.5B/year dividend (3.58% yield × $36.2B cap = ~$1.3B, actually manageable at 60% payout) with debt. This is standard utility financing but only works if rate cases keep pace. ROIC of 6.7% against a cost of debt that's now 5-6% on refi is thin — the "Weak Cash Flow Quality" flag is fair, though I'd call it "capex-heavy" rather than deteriorating. The -76.8% FCF CAGR is real but structural, not a red flag on its own for a utility in build mode.

Now the model contradictions: Market Forces calls this a "value trap" with "30-40% downside on dividend cut" — that's absurd. Payout ratio is 59.6%, the dividend has grown 12+ years, and PSEG has never cut. Meanwhile Valuation Synthesis says fair value $83 (+14.8%) while Thesis Evaluation says the market is paying a 30-40% *premium* to normal utility multiples expecting AI-capex growth. These can't both be right. My read: 17.2x P/E is *not* a premium for a Northeast regulated utility with clean-energy tilt and data-center adjacency — NEE trades at 19-20x, DUK/SO at 18-19x, so PEG at 17x is a modest discount, exactly what the Narrative layer correctly identifies. The Thesis Evaluation's "12-14x normal" anchor is stale, pre-2020 utility math.

The contrarian argument worth taking seriously isn't the value-trap frame — it's rate sensitivity plus New Jersey political risk. If 10-year yields push back to 5%+, utility multiples compress mechanically; a move from 17x to 15x on ~$4.20 forward EPS gets you to $63, ~13% downside. The BPU (NJ regulator) has been reasonable historically but bill fatigue is real when residential rates keep climbing. Insider activity is trivial (two small sales, ~10K shares combined) — noise, not signal. The steady-compounder narrative is durable precisely because it's boring, and boring utilities don't trade at $83 without an earnings catalyst; they trade at fair multiple times steady EPS. My fair value: 16-17x $4.20 = $67-71, right around current price. The synthesis's $83 target requires either multiple expansion (needs rate cut cycle) or EPS beat (needs data-center rate base to convert faster than baseline). Neither is my base case in the next 12 months.

I dissent from the synthesis's "fully_priced but +14.8% upside" framing — that's actually a buy signal disguised as caution, and I don't think the upside is there. I also dissent from Market Forces' catastrophist take. PEG is fairly valued near $72 for what it is: a competent regulated utility with modest clean-energy optionality and manageable but not exciting rate-base growth. The 3.6% yield plus 5-6% dividend growth gets you a ~9% total return if nothing changes — decent but not compelling versus 4.3% risk-free. I'd want $65 or lower to build a position, or a confirmed data-center rate-base conversion to justify chasing at $75+.

GPT Reading
Independent reading · gpt-5.4 · generated 2026-08-22 16:49:24
Verdict Fairly valued at $72.61 — a sound regulated utility, but the combination of near-zero free cash flow and $22.55B of debt caps upside; fair value is roughly $68-$78 unless cash conversion improves.

At $72.61, PEG looks more like a solid utility priced about where it should be than a mispriced opportunity in either direction. The raw earnings trend is respectable in the near term: 2025 revenue rose to $12.17 billion from $10.29 billion, while net income increased to $2.11 billion from $1.77 billion. On a trailing quarterly basis, the latest four quarters sum to roughly $12.55 billion of revenue and $2.01 billion of net income, so the business is still running at about a 16% net margin despite the normal seasonal lumpiness utilities show. What stands out to me is that the business clearly recovered from the 2021 loss and even from the weaker 2023-to-2024 reset, but it has not translated that earnings recovery into meaningful free cash flow. Operating cash flow of $3.30 billion is healthy, yet capex of $3.27 billion left just $26 million of free cash flow. That is not a distress signal for a regulated utility in expansion mode, but it does mean equity holders are effectively underwriting a rate-base compounding story rather than collecting truly surplus cash today.

The balance sheet is the key limiter on upside. Debt sits at $22.55 billion against just $132 million of cash and $16.98 billion of equity, for debt-to-equity of 1.33x. That is not extraordinary for the sector, but it matters when current ratio is only 0.80 and when the whole investment case depends on continued capital deployment and allowed returns in a higher-rate world. PEG earns a 12.4% ROE and 6.7% ROIC, which are acceptable utility numbers, but not numbers that scream the stock deserves a premium multiple. A 17.2x P/E and 3.0x sales multiple for a company with 4.1% revenue CAGR, negative 9.3% earnings CAGR over the measured period, and structurally negligible free cash flow is basically the market saying “stable, investable, but not special.” I agree with that. The recent quarterly comparisons are good — June quarter revenue was down from the March seasonal peak but still up materially versus the prior-year June quarter, while net income of $334 million versus $585 million a year earlier reminds you how noisy quarter-to-quarter reported profit can be. The annual numbers matter more here, and they say PEG is a steady earner with capital intensity, not a compounding cash machine.

The biggest disconnect I see is in the more dramatic bearish framing around dividend risk and collapse in cash flows. I don’t buy the “value trap” language from this dataset. The dividend yield is 3.58% and the payout ratio is about 59.6%, which is entirely manageable on earnings. The free-cash-flow weakness is real, but for a regulated utility spending $3.27 billion of capex, FCF near zero is not the same thing as economic impairment; it often just reflects timing before rate recovery. Likewise, the claim that the stock is priced for some AI/data-center boom looks overstated. Nothing in these numbers suggests the market is paying a hyper-growth multiple. At 17x earnings and 2.1x book, this is closer to a defensive utility valuation than a speculative infrastructure rerating. If anything, the stock’s valuation already embeds the right caution around New Jersey regulation, financing needs, and the reality that higher earnings do not automatically mean higher distributable cash.

The strongest case against my neutral read is straightforward: recent operating momentum is better than I’m giving it credit for, and if 2026 is another year of double-digit EPS growth the current multiple will look cheap. Revenue in the latest reported quarter was up roughly 18% year over year, recent earnings growth is also around 19%, annual operating income improved from $2.35 billion to $2.98 billion, and net income rose by $340 million in 2025. If that improvement is being driven by a constructive rate base cycle rather than one-off timing, then the market could justify moving PEG from 17x toward 19x earnings, which alone would support a stock in the low $80s. There is also a fair argument that utility FCF is the wrong lens when capex is deliberately elevated to build future earnings power. In that framing, PEG’s thin free cash flow is a feature of growth investment, not a bug. I weigh that argument less heavily because leverage is already meaningful and because regulated returns can disappoint if politics turns against customer bill increases.

What would change my mind is pretty specific. I would turn bullish if the next annual update showed operating cash flow moving meaningfully above $3.5 billion while capex remained around the current run rate, proving the earnings growth is converting better to cash, or if net income pushed sustainably above $2.3 billion without a corresponding jump in leverage. I would also get more constructive if management demonstrated that rate-base growth is earning on schedule, because then a fair value in the low-to-mid $80s becomes credible. I would turn bearish below my current stance if free cash flow stayed near zero or negative for another year while debt rose above $24 billion, or if annual net income slipped back toward the $1.7 billion area, because then 17x earnings would be too generous for what is ultimately a bond-like equity with execution and regulatory drag.

Grok Reading
Independent reading · grok-4.5 · generated 2026-08-22 16:50:02
Verdict Modestly undervalued regulated utility at $72.61; fair value near $82–83 on normalized $2.1B earnings and 3.6% yield, not a value trap

The numbers describe a regulated utility deep in a reinvestment cycle, not a business falling apart. Annual revenue climbed from $10.29B in 2024 to $12.17B in 2025, with net income rising from $1.77B to $2.11B and operating margin holding near 24.5%. Operating cash flow of $3.30B is solid; free cash flow of only $26M is almost entirely explained by $3.27B of capex, the classic utility pattern of converting OCF into rate base rather than a cash-flow crisis. Trailing PE of 17.2x, PB of 2.14x, and a 3.58% dividend yield with a 60% payout sit inside normal ranges for a Northeast regulated electric name. Recent quarters show the usual seasonal lumpiness—$3.85B revenue and 19.3% net margin in the March 2026 quarter versus $2.55B and 13.1% in June—but the year-over-year trajectory is positive: recent revenue and earnings growth near 18–19%. Debt of $22.55B against $16.98B of equity and a sub-1.0 current ratio are real constraints, yet they are the balance-sheet signature of a capital-intensive regulated franchise, not evidence that the dividend is about to be cut.

What the quantitative stack gets wrong is treating near-zero FCF and a negative long-term earnings CAGR as fatal. The earnings CAGR of –9.3% is dominated by the 2021 loss and the 2023 peak of $2.56B; stripping the cycle leaves a business that has re-stabilized around $2B of annual net income. ROE of 12.4% is respectable for the sector even if ROIC of 6.7% and ROA of 3.7% look pedestrian—exactly what rate-of-return regulation is designed to produce. The market is not awarding a growth premium; 17x earnings and 3x sales are consistent with a mature earner whose story is rate-base compounding at mid-single digits, not an AI-era re-rating. Insider sales of roughly 10k shares are noise. The composite fair-value work pointing near $82–83 therefore looks directionally right: the stock at $72.61 embeds a modest discount for New Jersey regulatory friction and higher-for-longer rates, not a structural impairment.

The strongest opposing case starts with the cash-flow identity and the regulatory backdrop. Skeptics correctly note that a $1.3B annual dividend is being paid while FCF is essentially zero, so the company is either borrowing or drawing on the balance sheet to keep the streak alive; couple that with $22.5B of debt, interest-coverage risk in a still-elevated rate environment, and a current ratio of 0.80, and the balance sheet has little spare capacity if rate recovery slips. New Jersey political sensitivity to bill inflation is a live threat to the multi-year capex plan that is supposed to grow rate base fast enough to support 5–6% dividend growth. Data-center interconnection pipelines can evaporate into unbuilt projects, and the long-term FCF CAGR of –77% is an ugly headline even if it is capex-driven. Those points justify a discount to peer utilities and explain why the stock has not re-rated; they do not, however, justify a 30–40% downside scenario unless one assumes an outright dividend cut or a sudden halt to rate-base growth—neither of which the current earnings power or regulatory lag data support. I weigh the OCF coverage of the dividend and the 2025 earnings recovery more heavily than the mechanical FCF zero.

What would flip the view is straightforward: two consecutive quarters of FCF remaining near zero while payout rises above 70%, a New Jersey rate-case outcome that materially delays or haircuts recovery on the current capex wave, or trailing twelve-month net income falling back below $1.7B. Conversely, a clear step-up in allowed rate base that lifts forward EPS growth into the high single digits with FCF turning sustainably positive would push the stock toward the mid-$80s and force a more aggressive stance.

Big-3 Panel — where each AI stands
Each AI above independently stated a direction (undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued) and how strongly it believes it (conviction, 0–5). We combine those into a Bull-Bear Index on a 0–10 scale: 5 is neutral, 10 is maximum bullish (undervalued at full conviction), 0 is maximum bearish. We compute the score ourselves with the same arithmetic for every seat — the models never grade their own bullishness — so the three are directly comparable. Δ shows how far each seat sits from the panel average of 6.0; a large Δ marks the dissenting voice, usually the one worth reading.
Claude claude-opus-4-7 5.0
fairly valued · conviction 3/5 · Δ -1.0 vs panel · self: 5.0
GPT gpt-5.4 5.0
fairly valued · conviction 4/5 · Δ -1.0 vs panel · self: 5.0
Grok grok-4.5 8.0
undervalued · conviction 3/5 · Δ +2.0 vs panel · self: 6.0
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Separate reads — Company Quality (is it a great business?), Valuation (is it mispriced?), and General Sentiment (how macro + narrative are pushing it), kept deliberately apart · 2026-08-22 16:57:44
Delvantic - Cairn AI
Quality - wait for a dip 6/10
Solid regulated utility that's only modestly cheap at $72.61 - a fine defensive hold but not worth chasing until it prints a 6-handle.
The cruxWhether the ~10% gap to a haircut-adjusted deserved value (~$78-80) is fat enough to compensate for genuinely weak cash conversion and $22B of refinancing exposure - and it isn't, quite.
Forensic checks Derived mechanically from PEG's filed financials — not from the AI lenses
Liquidity & RunwaySelf-Funding
DilutionStable Share Count
Earnings QualityWeak — Some Red Flags
The four lensesswitch a tab for its full read — score + evidence
Company Quality
-29
Solid
edge √Σ 75 · risk √Σ 105 · conf 6/10

PEG shows the classic profile of a mature regulated utility: revenue grew from 9.72B in 2021 to 12.17B in 2025, operating margin has stabilized in the 22-33% band since 2022, and net income has run 1.77B-2.56B for three straight years. Share count is essentially flat (diluted shares 504M to 501M, a -0.2% CAGR), so per-share value is not being eroded by dilution. This is a real earner with regulatory-franchise economics, which is why the OpM% swings do not signal instability. The soft spots are cash and leverage. Net debt is roughly 22.4B against only 132M of liquid cash, and short-term debt of 875M already exceeds cash on hand, so the company is structurally dependent on capital markets to roll paper. Free cash flow is highly erratic and generally poor relative to reported earnings: -983M (2021), -1.39B (2022), +481M (2023), -1.25B (2024), and just +26M (2025) against 2.11B of net income - an OCF/NI ratio of 0.61x and accruals of -2.2% of assets. Altman Z at 1.22 flags distress on the model, though that reading is partly an artifact of a capital-intensive utility balance sheet. Governance signals are neutral: two insider sales totaling roughly 756K in the last year, no buys - unremarkable for a utility. Beneish M at -2.41 shows no manipulation flag. Overall this is a durable, regulated cash engine whose reported earnings quietly outrun the cash it actually produces, and whose survival math depends on continuous refinancing rather than internal liquidity.

Strengths 3
m55
Stable regulated earnings base
Operating margin has held 22.9-32.8% and net income 1.77-2.56B across 2023-2025 on revenue rising to 12.17B, consistent with a durable regulated-utility franchise.
m45
No dilution drag
Diluted shares moved from 504M (2021) to 501M (2025), a -0.2% CAGR; per-share value is not being quietly eroded by issuance or SBC.
m25
No manipulation signal
Beneish M-score of -2.41 sits comfortably below the -1.78 threshold, giving no statistical hint of earnings manipulation.
Concerns 4
m70
Cash conversion chronically weak
FCF was negative in 3 of 5 years (-983M, -1.39B, -1.25B) and only +26M in 2025 against 2.11B of net income; OCF/NI at 0.61x means reported earnings materially overstate cash generation.
m65
Heavy leverage, thin liquidity
Net debt of 22.4B dwarfs the 132M liquid cash pile; 875M of short-term debt already exceeds cash, so refinancing access - not internal funds - is the survival lever.
m40
Altman Z in distress zone
Z of 1.22 flags distress; for a rate-regulated utility this partly reflects normal asset intensity, but it still confirms the balance sheet is a constraint rather than a cushion.
m20
Insider tape mildly negative
Two S-sales in the last year totaling about 756K with zero open-market buys - not alarming, but no insider is voting with cash on the business.
This is a textbook mature regulated utility - the earnings are real in an accounting sense because rate-base economics deliver them, but the cash quality is genuinely weak and the balance sheet has essentially no slack. I would call it Solid, not Strong, because a business that can only cover a fraction of its net income in cash and needs constant market access to roll 22B of debt is a business whose quality is contingent on capital-market conditions it does not control. Per-share discipline is a clear positive; the survival math and cash-versus-accrual gap are the ceilings on how high I can grade it.
Verify before trusting this (6)
  • Composition and maturity ladder of the 22.4B debt stack and 875M short-term portion
  • Capex plan vs regulated rate-base growth - is the negative FCF a growth-investment story or working-capital slippage?
  • Approved allowed ROE and rate-case outcomes across NJ utility jurisdictions
  • Segment split between regulated PSE&G and PSEG Power/nuclear cash flows
  • Any pending equity issuance or hybrid securities in the financing plan
  • Dividend coverage from operating cash flow rather than reported earnings
Valuation / Mispricing
+3
Modestly Cheap
edge √Σ 50 · risk √Σ 47 · conf 6/10
Price $72.61 vs quality-adjusted deserved ~$78-80, roughly 7-10% margin - modestly cheap, not a table-pounder. attractive below $66.00

The e2e composite FV of $81.90 and signal-adjusted FV of $83.37 imply roughly 13-15% upside from $72.61. The methods bracket sensibly: the EPV floor at $67.57 sits just below today's price (suggesting limited downside on a no-growth basis), while the anchored P/E at $96.23 reflects a more optimistic rate-base growth path. Splitting the difference lands near the composite, which feels defensible for a regulated utility with visible earnings but weak cash conversion. After the earnings-quality haircut (score -1) and the Solid-not-Strong business grade, I would trim deserved value modestly toward $78-80 to reflect the thin FCF coverage and 22B debt refinancing exposure. That still leaves a ~7-10% gap versus the $72.61 price - real but not a fat pitch. The bull case (defensive yield, nuclear PTC tailwind, data-center demand in the Northeast) is largely known and priced in; the bear case (rate-sensitive multiple, NJ regulatory lag) is the reason the discount exists. Net: modestly cheap, not deeply cheap.

Cheap signals 2
m40
Composite FV implies mid-teens upside
Signal-adjusted FV of $83.37 vs $72.61 price is ~15% upside; composite $81.90 is ~13%. A real gap but well within normal utility mispricing range.
m30
EPV floor near current price limits downside
EPV of $67.57 sits only ~7% below spot, meaning even a no-growth scenario doesn't imply severe overvaluation - a decent floor for a regulated asset.
Rich / priced-in 3
m35
Weak earnings quality warrants a haircut
Earnings-quality signal is -1 and cash conversion is thin; deserved value should be trimmed several percent below the raw composite, narrowing the true margin of safety.
m25
Anchored P/E of $96 looks stretched
The $96.23 P/E-based FV assumes multiple expansion and continued rate-base growth that heavy leverage and rate-case risk make optimistic; the composite already leans on this input.
m20
Rate-sensitive multiple, not a deep dislocation
Utility multiples compress with real rates; the discount here reflects a real macro headwind rather than a market oversight, capping the mispricing intensity.
I see a modestly cheap regulated utility, not a screaming buy. The 13-15% gap to composite FV is real but shrinks to single digits once I haircut for weak cash quality and balance-sheet slack. At $72.61 I would call it a fine hold for a yield-and-defense sleeve; I would want it closer to $66 - below the EPV floor - before treating it as a genuine valuation opportunity. Fairly to modestly cheap is the honest read.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • NJ BPU rate case outcomes and allowed ROE trajectory
  • Nuclear PTC realization and impact on unregulated segment earnings
  • Capex plan and equity issuance guidance through 2027
  • FCF coverage of dividend excluding rate-base growth spend
  • Refinancing terms on near-term debt maturities
General Sentiment
+9
Balanced
tail √Σ 59 · head √Σ 49 · conf 6/10

PEG is a beta-0.53 regulated utility, so the current mildly risk-on tape barely touches it either way; the macro force that actually lands on this name is the 4.69% 10y, which mechanically compresses bond-proxy utility multiples and explains the DCF discount without any story breaking. That is a real but ordinary crosswind, not a decisive press. The narrative around PEG is a low-intensity, durable steady-compounder story - no cult, no hype, no fading arc - which means there is neither a tailwind from momentum-chasers nor a headwind from a cracking story. Recent momentum has actually turned positive (18.3% recent vs 4.1% long-term), hinting that some rotation into defensives / rate-relief hope is quietly bidding the name. The Pennsylvania data-center rule is a small but genuine tailwind: it tilts cost recovery toward operators and generators in PEG's Northeast footprint, feeding the emerging 'utilities as AI power landlords' sub-narrative that has been lifting regulated names with nuclear and grid exposure. Net: modest rate headwind offset by a quietly improving narrative and constructive news flow - balanced, with a slight positive tilt.

Tailwinds 3
m40
Data-center power narrative quietly building
Pennsylvania's new rule forcing data centers to pay for generation and transmission is a template that benefits Northeast utilities with nuclear and grid assets - PEG fits that bucket and is beginning to be tagged with the AI-power-landlord story.
m35
Recent relative strength vs long-term trend
18.3% recent move vs 4.1% CAGR suggests defensive/utility rotation flows are finding the name; momentum has flipped constructive even without a loud narrative.
m25
Durable, low-intensity narrative
Steady-compounder story with low cult and durable framing means no fragile narrative to crack; sentiment floor is firm even if there is no upside spark.
Headwinds 2
m45
Higher-for-longer rates press bond proxies
10y at 4.69% mechanically de-rates regulated utilities as bond substitutes; PEG's low-growth, yield-anchored profile makes it directly exposed to this discount-rate pressure.
m20
Low beta mutes the risk-on tape
Risk-on regime score of +32 is a tailwind for high-beta names; at beta 0.53 PEG barely participates, so the friendly tape offers little lift here.
I read this as genuinely balanced with a faint positive lean. The rate backdrop is a real headwind for any bond-proxy utility, but PEG's low beta insulates it from tape swings and its narrative is quiet, durable, and quietly gaining a data-center power angle. There is no story to crack and no mania to unwind - just a steady name being nudged by a small emerging tailwind (AI power demand rules) against a persistent but ordinary rate crosswind. Net pressure is light in both directions; sentiment is not the reason to buy or sell this one.
Verify before trusting this (4)
  • Whether the data-center power narrative broadens to explicitly tag PEG (analyst notes, sell-side upgrades citing AI load growth)
  • 10y yield direction - a move back under 4.3% would meaningfully re-rate utility multiples
  • New Jersey BPU rate case tone and any regulatory friction headlines
  • Whether recent momentum sustains or fades as sector rotation shifts
The market-wide tape + this name's exposure to it (beta / sector / narrative durability). Context on the non-fundamental pressure — not a call on the business or the price. processId: detail-general-sentiment
Growth Outlook
+21
Growing
edge √Σ 108 · risk √Σ 86 · conf 7/10

Electricity demand in the US has inflected upward after twenty flat years — electrification plus data-center load — and PJM, PEG's market, is where that scarcity is priciest. That makes carbon-free nuclear baseload and delivery infrastructure structurally more valuable, and regulators generally must approve the capex to keep the lights on. The counterweight is entirely political and financial rather than demand-driven: 4.69% long rates raise the cost of financing a capex-heavy balance sheet, and New Jersey affordability politics put a ceiling on how fast bills, and therefore rate base returns, can rise. Net: demand tailwind is real and durable; the constraint has moved from customers to regulators and lenders.

Growth drivers 5
m74
Rate-base capex compounding
PSE&G's regulated infrastructure program (T&D, gas modernization, clean energy) converts approved capital into near-mechanical earnings growth. This is the single most reliable driver of PEG's forward EPS and largely explains the 5-7% long-run growth shape independent of the economy.
m51
Company outgrowing its category
Recent YoY revenue +18.3% vs industry ~9.4% (a +8.8pp gap) and earnings +19% against a sector already expanding at ~9.8% median. Even allowing for weather/commodity pass-through noise, PEG is not losing position inside a growing category.
m45
Northeast load growth / data-center demand
PJM capacity prices and new large-load interconnection in a dense service territory raise both delivery volumes and the value of PEG's nuclear fleet's carbon-free output — a genuine step-change in the demand curve for the first time in two decades.
m30
Beat cadence on EPS
Three of the last four prints beat (+7%, +8%, +1%); the single large miss was a small-absolute seasonal quarter (-0.02 vs 0.04) where percentage terms exaggerate. Execution against guidance has been consistent.
m26
Nuclear PPA / contracting optionality
Zero-carbon baseload with credit-support mechanisms plus potential long-term bilateral deals with hyperscalers offers upside to the generation segment that isn't in the regulated growth math.
Growth risks 5
m56
New Jersey regulatory and affordability politics
Rising customer bills in NJ have made rate cases politically fraught; disallowed capex, lagged recovery, or ordered bill credits would directly clip the rate-base growth mechanism. This is the primary structural risk to the 5-7% shape.
m39
Rate/financing cost pressure
With the 10y at 4.69% and macro flagged as headwinds, a heavily levered, capex-hungry utility faces higher incremental debt cost and equity-issuance needs, which shaves net growth even when rate base grows.
m38
Weak cash conversion
FCF CAGR deeply negative (-0.77) and multi-year earnings CAGR -9.2% — growth is being funded, not self-generated. Any capex step-up without timely recovery pressures the balance sheet and the dividend growth runway.
m31
Reported volatility / noisy base
Revenue volatility 0.133, quarterly trend flagged 'decelerating', not all years positive. The 18% YoY is partly weather and commodity pass-through; the underlying regulated growth rate is much lower, so the headline overstate risk is real.
m20
Merchant/nuclear price exposure
Un-hedged portions of generation output are exposed to power and capacity price reversal; PJM prices normalizing lower would remove a chunk of recent non-regulated upside.
vs expectations: ~6m inline · 1y inline · 2-3y above
The forward growth verdict — is the business itself likely to grow (next 2 quarters / year 1 / years 2–3), judged against its category and against printed expectations. The full horizon ladder + creme renders on the Growth Outlook card above. Not a call on the price (Valuation owns that) or the tape (Sentiment owns that).
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Lenses kept deliberately separate — Company Quality (price-agnostic), Valuation (price-conditional), General Sentiment (non-fundamental macro/narrative pressure), and Growth Outlook (the forward growth verdict). The scores are not blended. Filing-level items (convertibles, lock-ups, customer concentration) are v2 — see each lens's "verify."
Price Prediction
Higher +5.4% v0.6.0 View full prediction →

When we made this prediction on Aug 23, 2026, PEG was $72.61. We expect it to be $76.50 by Feb 2027, and we consider it great value under $66.00. This is an early model (v0.6.0) — the direction is more reliable than the exact price. Made Aug 23, 2026.

Price when predicted$72.61
Our estimate for Feb 2027$76.50+5.4%
Great value below$66.00
Price history shown (6 Months)

Blue is our prediction, starting the day we made it. Grey is a slower route to the same place — the same destination, taking longer. Black is the actual price, so you can see how we are doing.

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My Notes personal — only you see this
v1.1.562 · 9b2927c4 · 2026-08-22 16:52:06