AI fever in power stocks moves from nuclear to plain natural gas
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When the excitement around artificial intelligence started spreading to power stocks, the rally was concentrated on those with a big portfolio of nuclear power plants, such as Constellation Energy and Vistra. This could now be changing.
Thanks to regulatory scrutiny in key markets of deals between nuclear plants and data centers, most of which effectively draw power away from the rest of the grid, investor favor may shift to others: Companies that can quickly build new gas-fired power plants and vertically integrated utilities. Shares of NRG Energy, which doesn’t own any nuclear capacity, had lagged behind the surge seen by nuclear-owning peers Vistra, Constellation Energy and Talen Energy over the past two years. But on Wednesday, its shares jumped 11% after it made two big announcements.
One was an agreement with gas turbine manufacturer GE Vernova and contractor Kiewit to construct more than 5 gigawatts worth of new gas-fired power plants, which would be enough to power millions of homes. Separately, the company said it is in talks with two data center developers to supply power, primarily from new natural gas-fired plants. Even after a broad selloff among power stocks on Thursday, its shares are outperforming Vistra and Constellation so far this year.
Vistra shares fell 12% on Thursday after it failed to disclose any new contracts in its earnings call. Chief Executive Jim Burke said on the call that “there are a number of questions to be answered" from regulators before Vistra can finalize certain contracts with data center customers. The company expects more regulatory clarity by midyear.
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