Otter Tail Corporation Announces Second Quarter Results and Updates Annual Earnings Guidance

About this update from Otter Tail Corporation

FERGUS FALLS, Minn., August 03, 2026 --( BUSINESS WIRE )--Otter Tail Corporation (Nasdaq: OTTR) today announced financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. SUMMARY CEO OVERVIEW "Our team advanced our strategic initiatives during the quarter and delivered on our near-term priorities and growth plan for the benefit of our customers and shareholders," said CEO Chuck MacFarlane. "I am grateful for their efforts in what was a very busy quarter and for the ways they continue to support our customers. "Otter Tail Power's team members continue to execute well on our regulatory and strategic priorities. During the second quarter, we secured route permits for two of our large regional transmission projects, filed our 15-year integrated resource plan with the Minnesota commission and continued to make progress on our ongoing Minnesota rate case. "Our Manufacturing segment produced improved financial results, primarily driven by a favorable product mix as our team continues to focus on providing value-added service to customers, creating margin expansion. Sales volumes also increased as our businesses were well positioned to capitalize on improved demand, especially in the recreational vehicle, construction and horticulture end markets. "Our Plastics segment outperformed our expectations, driven by strong sales volumes as our customers sought to secure PVC pipe in advance of announced resin price increases. Additionally, the rate of decline in the sales price of our PVC pipe moderated in a strong demand environment. Our team effectively leveraged the additional capacity recently added at our Phoenix facility to fulfill customer demand. "During the second quarter, we entered into settlement agreements with the three putative classes in the PVC pipe U.S. antitrust litigation. If final approval is granted by the court, the settlement agreements will resolve all claims arising from these putative classes. While not admitting any wrongdoing, fault or liability, we agreed to pay $103.5 million to resolve the class action litigation. We concluded resolution through settlements was in our best interest as it meaningfully reduces the uncertainty, distraction and significant costs and exposure associated with complex antitrust litigation, and allows our team members to remain focused on what we do best - serving our customers. "We are updating our 2026 diluted earnings per share guidance range to $3.84 to $4.24 from $5.22 to $5.62 primarily due to the impact of the settlement agreements and related expense. We are initiating an adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance range of $5.68 to $6.08 which excludes the after-tax impact of the litigation settlement expense and reflects an increase from our original guidance range. "The fundamentals of our diversified business model remains strong, and we are well positioned to deliver on our investment targets over the long term. We continue to target a long-term earnings per share growth rate of 7 to 9 percent and a total shareholder return of 10 to 12 percent." QUARTERLY DIVIDEND On August 3, 2026, the corporation's Board of Directors declared a quarterly common stock dividend of $0.5775 per share. This dividend is payable on September 10, 2026 to shareholders of record on August 14, 2026. CASH FLOWS AND LIQUIDITY Our consolidated cash provided by operating activities for the six months ended June 30, 2026 was $182.7 million compared to $159.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2025. This increase was primarily due to a decrease in working capital requirements, largely driven by the timing of vendor payments and the recovery of fuel cost and rider revenues from our utility customers. Investing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2026 included capital expenditures of $324.8 million. Our capital investments were largely within our Electric segment and included investments in our Abercrombie and Solway solar projects, as well as investments in our wind repowering and other projects. Financing activities for the six months ended June 30, 2026 included the issuance of $170.0 million of long-term debt by Otter Tail Power; the proceeds of which were used to repay short-term borrowings, fund capital investments and support operating activities. Financing activities for the period also included dividend payments of $48.5 million. As of June 30, 2026 we had $170.0 million and $153.0 million of available liquidity under our Otter Tail Corporation and Otter Tail Power credit facilities, respectively, along with $278.4 million of available cash and cash equivalents, resulting in total available liquidity of $601.4 million. SEGMENT PERFORMANCE The following table shows heating degree days and cooling degree days as a percent of normal. The following table summarizes the estimated effect on diluted earnings per share of the difference in retail kilowatt-hour (kwh) sales under actual weather conditions and expected retail kwh sales under normal weather conditions for the three months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. Operating Revenues decreased $7.4 million primarily due to an increase in the amount of production tax credits (PTCs) generated during the period, the benefit of which is passed through to customers, as well as lower fuel recovery revenues. The increase in PTCs was driven by additional wind generation and the completion of our wind repowering projects earlier this year, which allowed the facilities to begin generating PTCs as they were placed back into service. A planned outage at one of our coal-fired plants during the period drove the reduction in fuel recovery revenues and also resulted in less excess generation, which resulted in lower wholesale revenues. Lower market energy prices resulted in lower purchased power costs which also contributed to the decrease in fuel recovery revenues. The decreases described above were partially offset by the impact of increased interim and final rates in Minnesota and South Dakota, respectively, the recovery of additional rate base investments, increased commercial sales volumes, and favorable weather impacts. Net Income decreased $0.5 million primarily due to higher operating and maintenance expenses, including plant outage-related expenses, increased labor costs, and increased vegetative management expenses, as well as higher depreciation and interest expense associated with our rate base investments. An increase in allowance for funds used during construction, driven by our continued investments in our large solar projects, partially offset the impact of lower revenues and higher operating and maintenance expenses. Operating Revenues increased $9.7 million primarily due to steel cost increases, which drove a 9% revenue increase, as steel costs are passed on to customers, as well as a 3% increase in sales volumes. Demand improved in certain markets we serve, including the construction, recreational vehicle and horticulture markets, compared to softer demand and tighter inventory management efforts during the same period last year. Net Income increased $1.1 million primarily due to higher margins resulting from the mix of products sold and higher sales volumes, which results in a greater leveraging of our fixed costs. These impacts were partially offset by higher general and administrative expenses. Operating Revenues decreased $1.0 million compared to the same period last year, primarily due to a 14% decrease in average sales prices. The impact of lower pricing was largely offset by a 15% increase in sales volumes, primarily driven by customer purchasing activity ahead of announced PVC resin cost increases and additional production capacity recently added at our Phoenix facility. Net Income decreased $83.2 million, resulting in a net loss for the quarter. The decrease was primarily due to estimated losses recognized during the period arising from the settlement agreements reached with each of the three putative classes in the ongoing U.S. antitrust class action lawsuits. In connection with these matters, we recognized an estimated pre-tax loss in the amount of $103.5 million during the period. Adjusted Net Income reflects an adjustment to exclude the after-tax impact of the legal settlement expenses recognized in the second quarter of 2026. Adjusted net income decreased $6.0 million from the second quarter of 2025 primarily due to decreased sales prices, partially offset by increased sales volumes, as discussed above. For the three months ended June 30, 2026, corporate results reflected a net loss of $0.8 million compared to net income of $1.9 million for the same period last year. The change from the prior year was primarily due to the internal allocation of interim tax expense and an increase in employee compensation costs. 2026 OUTLOOK We are updating our 2026 diluted earnings per share guidance to a range of $3.84 to $4.24 and initiating our 2026 adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance in the range of $5.68 to $6.08. The segment components of our 2026 guidance compared with actual earnings for 2025 are as follows: The following items contribute to our 2026 earnings guidance: Electric Segment - We are maintaining our segment earnings guidance. Manufacturing Segment - We are increasing our segment earnings guidance based on: Plastics Segment - We are increasing our segment earnings guidance based on: Corporate Costs - We expect our costs to increase due to less investment income and a lower tax benefit. CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST The corporation will host a live webcast on Tuesday, August 4, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. CT to discuss its financial and operating performance. The presentation will be posted on our website before the webcast. To access the live webcast, go to www.ottertail.com/presentations and select "Webcast." Please allow time prior to the call to visit the site and download any software needed to listen in. An archived copy of the webcast will be available on our website shortly after the call. If you are interested in asking a question during the live webcast, visit and follow the link provided in the press release announcing the upcoming conference call. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES This press release includes certain adjusted financial measures (non-GAAP financial measures). The Company believes these non-GAAP financial measures, when reviewed in conjunction with GAAP financial measures, can provide more information to assist investors in evaluating current period performance and in assessing future performance. For these reasons, internal management reporting also includes non-GAAP financial measures. We use Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Earnings per Share, and Adjusted Return on Equity in evaluating the operating performance and profitability of our business. Management believes that these measures provide useful information to investors by facilitating period-to-period comparisons of operating results excluding the effects of the legal settlement expense and related income tax benefit. We define Adjusted Net Income as net income excluding legal settlement expenses and the related income tax benefit. We define Adjusted Earnings per Share as diluted net income per share excluding the per share impact of legal settlement expenses and the related income tax benefit. We define Adjusted Return on Equity as annual Adjusted Net Income divided by the average of total consolidated shareholders' equity excluding the impact of legal settlement expenses and the related income tax benefit. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, and not superior to or as a substitute for, the GAAP financial measures presented in this release and the Company's financial statements and other publicly filed reports. Non-GAAP financial measures presented in this release may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliations of adjusted financial measures used in this release to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share are reconciled to their most directly comparable GAAP measures in the non-GAAP Reconciliations section. Guidance for Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share and Adjusted Return on Equity are forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures that are reconciled to their respective most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in footnote (1) under 2026 Outlook. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Except for historical information contained here, the statements in this release are forward-looking and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "anticipate," "believe," "can," "confident," "could," "estimate," "expect," "future," "goal," "intend," "likely," "may," "optimistic," "opportunity," "outlook," "plan," "possible," "position," "potential," "predict," "probable," "projected," "should," "target," "will," "would" and similar words and expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of management. Forward-looking statements made herein, which may include statements regarding 2026 earnings and earnings per share, long-term earnings, earnings-per-share growth and earnings mix, anticipated levels of energy generation from renewable resources, anticipated reductions in carbon dioxide emissions, future investments and capital expenditures, rate base levels and rate base growth, future raw materials costs, future raw materials availability and supply constraints, future operating revenues and operating results, and expectations regarding regulatory proceedings, as well as other assumptions and statements, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause our actual results in current or future periods to differ materially from the forecasted assumptions and expected results. The Company's risks and uncertainties include, among other things, uncertainty of future investments and capital expenditures; rate base levels and rate base growth; risks associated with energy markets; the availability and pricing of resource materials; inflationary cost pressures; attracting and maintaining a qualified and stable workforce; changing macroeconomic and industry conditions that impact the demand for our products, pricing and margin; long-term investment risk; seasonal weather patterns and extreme weather events; future business volumes with key customers; reductions in our credit ratings; our ability to access capital markets on favorable terms; assumptions and costs relating to funding our employee benefit plans; our subsidiaries' ability to make dividend payments; cybersecurity threats or data breaches; the impact of government executive orders, legislation and regulation including foreign trade policy; environmental, health and safety laws and regulations; changes in tax laws and regulations; the impact of climate change including compliance with legislative and regulatory changes to address climate change; expectations regarding regulatory proceedings, assigned service areas, the construction of major facilities, capital structure, and allowed customer rates; actual and threatened claims or litigation; and operational and economic risks associated with our electric generating and manufacturing facilities. These and other risks are more fully described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated in subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as applicable. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we expressly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking information. Category: Earnings About the Corporation: Otter Tail Corporation, a member of the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, has interests in diversified operations that include an electric utility and manufacturing businesses. Otter Tail Corporation stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol OTTR. The latest investor and corporate information is available at www.ottertail.com . Corporate offices are in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and Fargo, North Dakota.

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