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Why Vistra Stock Surged Higher

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Integrated retail electricity and power generation company, Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) exploded about 8.5%, or $14.49 a share higher on Tuesday. All thanks to three key catalysts.

For one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just disclosed her purchase of 50 call options of VST with an expiration date of January 17, 2026, valued at between $500,000 to $1 million.

Stock Market Marks Longest Bull Market In U.S. History
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Key Points in This Article 

  • Integrated retail electricity and power generation company, Vistra exploded about 8.5%, or $14.49 a share higher on Tuesday. All thanks to three key catalysts.
  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just disclosed her purchase of 50 call options of VST
  • Two, authorities just lifted their evacuation orders following a massive fire at the company’s Moss Landing battery storage plant in California.
  • Analysts at BMO Capital upgraded VST stock to an outperform rating with a price target of $191 from $151.
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Two, authorities just lifted their evacuation orders following a massive fire at the company’s Moss Landing battery storage plant in California. The plant, reportedly one of the world’s biggest, held tens of thousands of lithium batteries and is critical to the company’s battery storage capacity expansion efforts.

Following the lift, analysts at BMO Capital upgraded VST stock to an outperform rating with a price target of $191 from $151.

Analysts at Evercore ISI also resumed coverage of VST with an outperform rating with a price target of $202. The firm believes Vistra will build on its 2024 momentum.

Vistra is Riding the AI Data Center Wave 

Artificial intelligence hasn’t just fueled the upside in tech stocks.

It’s also fueling massive upside in energy stocks, like Vistra.  As noted by Reuters, “some power companies projecting electricity sales growth several times higher than estimates just months earlier. Nine of the top 10 U.S. electric utilities said data centers were a main source of customer growth, leading many to revise up capital expenditure plans and demand forecasts.”

All of which is boosting stocks, like VST, which has been in talks with some of the biggest data center developers to upgrade nuclear plants to increase power output.

Even better, VST earnings haven’t been too shabby.

In its most recent quarter, the company crushed earnings with a 54% year-over-year surge in revenue to $6.28 billion. VST also raised its full-year profit guidance and authorized an additional $1 billion worth of stock buybacks.

However, Don’t Race to Buy the VST Stock Just Yet

Immediate-term, we’d wait for a healthy pullback before buying the stock.

That’s because it’s now technically oversold on relative strength (RSI), MACD, Williams’ %R and Full Stochastics. In fact, since May, each time VST became as overbought as it is now using with these four key technical indicators, the stock pivoted lower before testing a new high. We saw this happen on May 24, 2024, October 8, 2024, November 21, 2024.

We may be about to see VST pivot lower again after its latest push higher.

Again, avoid the stock for now. But consider buying on pullbacks.

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