Vistra Corp., an Irving-based energy company, witnessed an astonishing 264% surge in its stock value in 2023, becoming the top performer on the S&P 500 Index. This remarkable growth is attributed to a surge in demand for nuclear power, driven by factors like data centers, reshoring efforts, and electrification trends. The company's strategic investment in the world's largest battery storage project further bolsters its position.
Irving-based Vistra Corp. built the world's largest battery storage project on an old power plant site overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Vistra's stock has managed since 2001 — it topped the leaderboard of the S&P 500 Index with an eye-popping 264% annual gain.
Shares of Vistra, which joined the S&P 500 in May, posted their best year in the Dallas-based firm’s history and led a pack of nuclear power plant operators higher in a performance more akin to the high-growth tech sector than the typically boring and defensive play of utilities. 'Everywhere you look, power demand has never been this strong,' said Shahriar Pourreza, an analyst with Guggenheim Securities. 'There’s a finite number of these power plant operators and they have a scarcity value.' Independent power plant operators — unlike regulated utilities — have seen a 'tipping point' amid the rise of data centers, a huge re-shoring effort and electrification trends, Pourreza said. The combination of increased demand and greater acceptance of nuclear power propelled Vistra’s stock to even outperform AI darling Nvidia Corp.’s 178% gain. The one stock with a claim on Vistra’s position on the S&P 500’s leaderboard is Palantir Technologies Inc., whose 350% gain comes with the caveat that it was only added to the S&P 500 in September. The four best-performing S&P 500 utility stocks this year are all independent power producers — known as IPPs — that own nuclear generating facilities. After Vistra, those stocks are Constellation Energy, which has climbed 94%, followed by NRG Energy Inc., up 78%, and Entergy Corp., up 50%. In September, Microsoft Corp. made a deal with Constellation to buy power from the Three Mile Island nuclear generating facility, immediately sending shares in the group higher. Similar deals signed by Amazon.com Inc. and expectations for more power purchases by tech giants have continued to propel the stocks higher.The last utility name to outperform every other stock in the S&P 500 was AES Corp
Vistra Corp. Stock Market Nuclear Power Battery Storage Energy Demand
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