We recently analyzed the top utilities stocks hedge funds are buying to profit from the AI-led boom in the industry. Since Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) was part of the list, the stock deserves a deeper look. But first, let’s see why everyone’s taking about AI catalysts for utilities stocks these days.
The AI revolution that started with the launch of ChatGPT has catapulted several sectors into the limelight that were hitherto believed to be unrelated to AI. Utilities is one of the most notable of these sectors. As more and more companies deploy AI in their systems and develop new applications, they need high-performance data centers to power their AI processing chips. And these data centers are power hogs. Why? Goldman Sachs in a recent report titled AI, data centers and the coming US power demand surge said that a single ChatGPT query takes about 6 to 10 times as much electricity to process as a typical Google search. Goldman Sachs also expects AI-led data center boom to cause a 160% increase in power demand in the U.S. Goldman analysts estimate that utility companies will invest $50 billion to support this new demand from the data center sector.
Goldman Sachs also expects data center power usage to more than double by 2030. It estimates that data centers would account for about 8% of the total power demand in the US, compared to just 3% in 2022. Goldman also expects power demand from AI to rise about 200 TWh in 2024-30, with the bull case estimate clocking in at 330 TWh, and the bear case estimate sitting at 110 TWh.
A latest Bloomberg report cited Manju Naglapur, senior vice president and general manager for cloud, applications and infrastructure solutions at Unisys Corp, who said that data centers were causing a spike in power demand even before the latest AI boom. Naglapur thinks with the current scale of investments in data centers, power consumption will increase “massively.”
As investors begin to look beyond obvious AI mega-cap tech names like Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Alphabet, which have already racked up solid gains so far, utilities stocks are trending in the AI investing space. Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLU) is up about 11% so far this year. Kevin Gordon, a Director and Senior Investment Strategist at Charles Schwab, recently said that 50% of the utilities sector constituents have seen their new 52-week highs. Utilities stocks come with an added allure thanks to their stable businesses and high dividend yields, something investors are looking for in the current economic environment where interest rates are expected to stay elevated.
For this article we scanned Insider Monkey’s database of 919 hedge funds updated for the first quarter of 2024 and listed down all utilities stocks that are actively exposed to the AI power demand surge. From these stocks we chose 8 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)
Number of Hedge Fund Investors: 79
Texas-based electricity company Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is one of the best AI utilities stocks to buy now according to hedge fund investors. The stock has already gained about 168% this year through May 27. Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) earlier this month upped its dividend by 1.2% (second dividend increase this year), and also became part of the S&P 500, replacing Pioneer Natural Resources.
Earlier this month Morgan Stanley published a list of stocks poised to benefit from productivity opportunities because of AI. Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) was part of the list.
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) CEO Jim Burke talked about data centers and clean energy opportunities while answering a question during Q1 earnings call:
“We started our process, actually, last year looking at the time, it was a perspective close of Energy Harbor, which of course is now in the rearview mirror, which is great. And of course, the Talon AWS deal came out early March. So that was certainly a benchmark and a watershed event for the industry. I will say the two unit sites still have, this is an order of preference that I think the market is grappling with. The two unit sites have more desirability for what their redundancy can provide. Then there’s the single unit sites, of course. And then there’s the gas plants. So what’s been very interesting, David, about our discussions with potential partners is we have normally sort of tried to search for opportunities for us to find partners and bid into their energy needs.
Now this has been reversed. We actually have partners, potential partners coming to us directly. And speed is really very important to them. I would say gas has become as interesting to many of them as nuclear has, in fact, even a preference for some. So from our standpoint, all options are on the table with 40,000 megawatts. And, you know, we’ve got obviously 12 states and 40,000 megawatts that we can do some of our projects with. But we’ve actually flipped it a little bit. So we’ve actually put out some RFPs ourselves. So instead of just responding to the inbounds, we’ve actually gone out to the marketplace to handle actually multiple conversations simultaneously and see what the best opportunity might be for us. And so that process is not concluded yet, but we’re in the middle of that process.”
Read the full earnings call transcript here.
Third Point Management stated the following regarding Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) in its first quarter 2024 investor letter:
“Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is one of the largest independent power producers (“IPPs”) and retail electricity providers in the country. In 2023, Vistra’s natural gas, nuclear and coal plants generated over 20% of electricity consumed in Texas.
Unlike regulated utilities, where profits are determined by capital invested, Vistra operates in deregulated markets (primarily ERCOT and PJM), where they generate and sell electricity at market prices. Historically, Vistra has been valued at a steep discount to both the regulated utility sector and the broader market in part due to the challenging fundamentals of merchant power. Stagnant domestic electricity demand combined with an oversupply of natural gas has made US electricity prices among the lowest in the world. Meanwhile, significant growth in subsidized renewable generation has created major intraday price volatility in Vistra’s core markets, with power prices sometimes going negative during periods of abundant sunshine or wind. Bankruptcies, including Vistra’s former parent company TXU in 2014, have become commonplace in the sector over the last decade…” (Click here to read the full text)
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is part of the 8 Best AI Utilities Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds.
Click to see the full list of Utilities Stocks Hedge Funds are Buying to Ride the AI Boom.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.