Orin
SRENYSE·Diversified Utilities

Sempra SRE

Market cap $50.5BP/E 22.4× trailingGross margin 41.7%Reports Wed 4 Nov, before the open
$77.26
−0.48 (−0.62%)live 11:20 ET
52-wk $77.11 – $101.04
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Orin's take
0.62conviction · moderate
Refreshed 25 Aug · take v9. A new filing or a print queues the next refresh.

Sempra's Q2 2026 GAAP earnings of $796 million ($1.21 per diluted share) marked a sharp rebound from $461 million in the prior-year quarter, with management affirming 2026–2027 guidance and completing the Ecogas México sale to advance capital recycling. Yet the stock at $84.57 trades below both its 50-day ($90.18) and 200-day ($91.40) moving averages, carrying a P/E of 24.37 — a 16.3% premium to the peer median of 20.96 — against a backdrop of FY2025 free cash flow of -$6.05B on $10.6B of capex and $36.3B of total debt.

BNY Mellon's new $465M institutional position and the earnings inflection are constructive, but with smart money scores deteriorating to -0.02 as of Q2 2026 and the stock yet to reclaim key technical levels, the premium valuation and balance-sheet risk warrant patience.

What could go wrong

  • Capital intensity and negative FCF. FY2025 free cash flow was -$6.05B on $10.6B of capex; FCF has been negative for at least five consecutive years, pressuring the ability to fund dividends and debt service organically.
  • Premium valuation vs peers. P/E of 24.37 sits 16.3% above the peer median of 20.96 and P/S of 4.06 is 27.1% above the peer median of 3.20, leaving little margin for disappointment if the earnings recovery stalls.
  • Balance-sheet leverage. Total debt of $36.3B against stockholders' equity of $31.6B (FY2025) amplifies sensitivity to interest-rate movements and regulatory cost-of-capital decisions.
  • Deteriorating smart-money positioning. Smart money score fell from 0.0787 (Q1 2026) to -0.0201 (Q2 2026) with fund count declining from 66 to 63, signaling reduced institutional conviction at the margin.

What would change my mind

FCF inflection from asset sales. Proceeds from Ecogas México and additional capital-recycling actions meaningfully reduce capex or debt, narrowing the FCF deficit toward breakevenbullish
Stock reclaims 200-day moving average. SRE closes sustainably above $91.40 (200-day MA) on rising volume, confirming trend reversal from the current downtrendbullish
FY2026 earnings guidance cut. Management lowers 2026 or 2027 EPS guidance, indicating the Q2 rebound is not sustainably offsetting FY2025's EPS decline to $2.75 from $4.42bearish
Regulatory or rate-case setbacks. Adverse CPUC or FERC rulings on SDG&E or SoCalGas rate cases compress allowed returns or delay capex recoverybearish

Where this comes from: Defense World Q2 earnings call highlights, 2026-08-11 · FMP fundamentals, fiscal year ended 2025-12-31 · Peer relative valuation, as of 2026-08-24 · Defense World, 2026-08-22 (13F filing). Orin's read on SRE; not advice.

Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-24 · actual filings

Sept 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26

50-day average 200-day average · volume below

Largest holders · 13F Q2 2026

Money flow
FilerPositionOf fund
Wellington Management Group Llp$4.1B0.7% of fund
Vanguard Capital Management$4.0B0.1% of fund
State Street$3.5B0.1% of fund
Vanguard Portfolio Management$3.5B0.2% of fund
Morgan Stanley$2.3B0.1% of fund
Jpmorgan Chase &$1.9B0.1% of fund

107 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows

Insiders, last 24 months: 148 Form 4 filings, net $35.0M. Of the 50 on hand, 3 were open-market purchases and 8 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.

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Where it trades

vs its own 5y · Utilities
MetricNowOwn medianSector
P/E22.4×22.8×25.9×
EV/EBITDA13.4×15.4×—
P/S3.74×3.16×—
P/B1.6×1.8×—

Its P/E sits 40th percentile of its own last 5 years (−0.25σ from its own mean).

What Wall Street published

26 firms · 2026-09-24
Consensus target

$101

$84 – $118 · +31% against today's price

How they rate it
  • 21 buy or overweight
  • 5 hold
  • 0 underweight or sell

The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.

Against the companies it is compared to

median P/E 19.4× of 9 peers
CompanyMarket capP/EEV/EBITDAGrossNetROE
SRESempra$51B22.4×13.4×41.7%16.8%7%
AEPAmerican Electric Power Company, Inc.$64B20.2×13.6×49.0%13.9%10%
DDominion Energy, Inc.$53B20.9×14.5×49.3%13.9%9%
ETREntergy Corporation$46B24.8×13.7×38.9%13.5%10%
EXCExelon Corporation$41B14.7×10.2×24.5%11.0%10%
NEENextEra Energy, Inc.$158B16.9×15.0×71.8%32.0%17%
PEGPublic Service Enterprise Group Incorporated$33B16.5×13.2×85.4%16.0%12%
VSTVistra Corp.$47B23.0×10.2×13.0%13.9%41%
WECWEC Energy Group, Inc.$33B19.4×13.6×62.0%16.7%12%
XELXcel Energy Inc.$43B19.0×12.5×48.8%15.3%10%

The median is of the 9 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 15.5% above it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.

What it has traded at

P/E by fiscal year
FY14 23.6×FY25 32.1×

What its sector has traded at

Utilities
FY14 14.0×FY26 27.4×

Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.

Discounted cash flow

not recomputed since
ModelFair valueAgainstComputed
Standard DCF$-185$91.50 · −302%2026-06-10
Levered DCF$-200$91.50 · −319%2026-06-10

The vendor’s intrinsic-value models. Treat them as a low-growth anchor — for a fast grower the market routinely pays well above a DCF. These were computed against the price in the “against” column, not today’s.

Every estimate on one scale

price $77.26
52-week range$78 – $101
Analyst targets$84 – $118
Standard DCF$-185 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $91.50
Levered DCF$-200 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $91.50
At own 5y-median P/E (23×)$79
At 5y P/E range (15–31×)$53 – $109
At sector P/E (26×)$90

The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.