Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is one of Jim Cramer’s Hottest Nuclear Energy Stock Picks, Hits & Misses. Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is an American independent power producer that relies on nuclear and other energy sources to generate power. Its shares are up by 20% over the past year and by 3% since Cramer made his remarks on Mad Money. Between February and April, Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)’s shares lost a fair bit of their value. The shares dipped by 7% on February 27th, 2025, after the firm reported its fourth quarter earnings. However, between April and late September, Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)’s stock gained 113%. On August 12th, the shares gained 5% after Bank of America and BMO Capital were out with bullish takes on the firm. Year to date, Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)’s shares are down 3.1% amidst broader market uncertainty stemming from the Iran war. In January 2025, Cramer had insisted that the firm was a way to play the growth in data center expansion stemming from the growth in AI expansion, but warned against getting too excited:
“… Vistra, up 258%. Vistra’s the largest competitive generator of electricity in the country and the second largest nuclear play thanks to an acquisition, very smart acquisition it made last March. We have a shortage of clean power in America and we need more of it to support the big data center build-out. Let me say it from the outset that I’m starting to think this move is getting to be absurd. Vistra’s like a stock created for the moment, the visible way to play data center expansion.
I come back and say Vistra and its doppelganger Constellation Energy are utilities with no real ability to scale at the level that the stocks would indicate. Although Constellation got a big contract today from the Feds that could help them add more nukes if all goes well. I say don’t be too greedy with Vistra please because the aura will disappear once people realize that it doesn’t have the ability to grow fast enough to back up this move. It can go higher, but it is starting to gimme a nosebleed.”
While we acknowledge the risk and potential of VST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than VST and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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