CluenexNRG Energy NRG
NRG Energy scores weak on business quality (3.9 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What NRG Energy does
NRG Energy sells electricity and natural gas to millions of retail and residential customers. Households and businesses pay for power supply and home services.
- What it does best
NRG locks in consumers through its massive retail energy platform, holding a gross margin of 19.7% that lags peers like PCG at 84.3% but supports a large customer base. This footprint is hard to copy because acquiring millions of retail utility accounts requires massive marketing spend.
- The main risk
Heavy debt loads leave the company vulnerable to interest rate spikes. Total debt sits at $16.4B with a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.8, meaning high debt costs consume cash flow if refinancing rates rise.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margins sit at 7.2% with a net margin of 2.4%, showing thin profitability on $33.1B in revenue. Margins remain constrained by wholesale power costs and high interest expenses.
The consumer ecosystem forms a modest moat, backed by a top-decile ROE of 25.4%. Competitors struggle to replicate this retail reach quickly due to high customer acquisition costs in power markets.
Revenue grew 9.2% to reach $33.1B, showing steady top-line expansion compared to prior annual dips. Growth is recovering from past volatility but remains sensitive to commodity price swings.
Debt-to-equity of 9.8 and interest coverage of 2.3x mean debt costs eat a heavy share of earnings. Free cash flow dropped to $348M from $1.8B previously. Financial reality is softening.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on NRG
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
NRG Energy scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (3.9 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth slow and financial health weak.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Nov 5, 2026.
See NRG today
- Today's verdict on NRG, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “NRG Energy (NRG)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/nrg/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.