On August 3, New Jersey Resources Corporation (NYSE:NJR) reported a fiscal third quarter that looked nothing like the one before it. A year earlier, the Wall, New Jersey-based energy company posted a net loss of $15.1 million, or $0.15 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. This time, for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, net income came in at $9.7 million, or $0.10 per share, while net financial earnings nearly doubled to $11.3 million from $6.2 million a year earlier. That swing set the tone for a report that also saw management tighten and raise the low end of its full-year guidance.
Nine Months That Outran Guidance
The bigger story shows up in the nine-month numbers. For the nine months ended June 30, New Jersey Resources earned $351.1 million, or $3.48 per share, up from $320.6 million, or $3.20 per share, over the same stretch in fiscal 2025. Net financial earnings followed the same path, climbing to $350.9 million, or $3.48 per share, from $313.4 million, or $3.13 per share, a year earlier.
Management responded by tightening fiscal 2026 NFEPS guidance to a range of $3.52 to $3.62, up from a previous range of $3.48 to $3.63, effectively raising the floor while the ceiling barely moved. CEO Steve Westhoven pointed to “the continued strength of our diversified business model” in explaining the move.
Two segments did much of the heavy lifting. Storage and Transportation posted nine-month net financial earnings of $23.8 million, up from $13.9 million a year earlier, while Energy Services swung from $39.4 million to $84.5 million over the same stretch. New Jersey Natural Gas, the company’s core utility, grew nine-month net financial earnings to $238.4 million from $221.5 million, helped by base rates that took effect in October and November of fiscal 2026 versus rates that only became effective on November 21, 2024, along with continued customer growth and higher Basic Gas Supply Service incentives. Clean Energy Ventures also narrowed its quarterly loss to $0.3 million from $6.9 million a year earlier.
Where The Growth Story Cracks
Not every line moved in the same direction. New Jersey Natural Gas actually produced weaker results for the quarter itself, with net financial earnings falling to $6.1 million from $10.1 million a year earlier, a drop the company linked to rising depreciation as new gas infrastructure came online, an increase that only partly offset higher gross margin at the utility.
Energy Services, the segment credited with much of the nine-month gain, lost $4.0 million in the third quarter alone, a wider loss than the $3.7 million it posted in the same quarter of fiscal 2025. Clean Energy Ventures tells a similar story over the longer window. Even after narrowing its quarterly loss, the segment’s nine-month net financial earnings fell to $4.1 million from $37.3 million a year earlier, one of the sharpest year-over-year declines anywhere in the portfolio.
The long-term target adds another wrinkle. New Jersey Resources maintains a 7 to 9 percent long-term NFEPS growth goal measured from a fiscal 2025 base of $2.83 per share, which by the company’s own math implies a fiscal 2026 range of $3.03 to $3.08. That figure sits well below the $3.52 to $3.62 guidance management just tightened, a gap the earnings release does not explain.
How Wall Street Is Pricing It
Hedge fund interest slipped slightly, with 24 funds holding a position in the most recent quarter versus 25 in the prior quarter, pointing to modest trimming rather than a rush for the exits. Short interest sits at 4.86% of float, a level that suggests a real but not overwhelming bear camp has formed around the stock. The forward price-to-earnings ratio stands at 15.46 as of September 3, a multiple that prices in steady, utility-style growth rather than anything explosive.
The Detail Worth Watching
New Jersey Resources heads into the final quarter of fiscal 2026 with tighter, higher guidance and nine-month earnings that back it up. Yet the quarter itself was uneven: the core utility lost ground to rising depreciation, and Energy Services posted a wider loss even as its nine-month total impressed. Whether the base rate increases and customer growth lifting New Jersey Natural Gas can keep outrunning that depreciation is one open question.
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