We have covered Jim Cramer for almost 20 years here at 24/7 Wall St., and like all opinionated Wall Street stock pundit pickers, he has had more than his fair share of home runs and some swings and misses. One thing is certain: his opinions do not go unheard. Cramer has maintained one of the most prominent bully pulpits in the financial industry for years, and when he speaks, the market pays attention.
Big tech companies are increasingly partnering with utility companies to secure reliable, low-carbon energy for their power-intensive data centers, driven largely by the demands of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Five of the world’s largest technology companies have already made significant deals in this space:
- Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction | AMZN Price Prediction)
- Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT)
- Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL)
- Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META)
- Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL)
With a career that started at Goldman Sachs, running through the formation of his hedge fund, Cramer Berkowitz, and his founding of The Street, which he wrote for from 1996 to 2021, to his long-running Mad Money show, Jim Cramer brings something most Wall Street commentators lack: access to nearly everyone, regardless of their standing in the financial hierarchy. He does the homework. That preparation gives the millions of viewers who follow him on television and online a genuine window into the names he is tracking at any given time.
We asked Grok, the AI arm of X, formerly known as Twitter, to identify Cramer’s favorite utility stocks over the years. These picks align with his broader thesis that utilities are well-positioned due to their steady dividends, resilience against tariffs, and surging energy demand from AI data centers. Cramer particularly favors stocks with yields above 2.5% and a history of dividend growth, while cautioning that yields above 8% can signal elevated risk. Several of his top picks have already secured significant deals with major technology companies, while others are actively pursuing them.
Four of Cramer’s favorite ideas are also top utility picks at 24/7 Wall St., and all carry Buy-equivalent ratings at top Wall Street firms.
American Electric Power
American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) is one of the largest electric utility companies in the United States, serving more than 5 million customers across 11 states. It is an electric public utility holding company that generates, transmits, and distributes electricity for sale to retail and wholesale customers nationwide, and it has built a reputation as a reliable, consistent dividend payer.
The company operates through four segments: Vertically Integrated Utilities, Transmission and Distribution Utilities, AEP Transmission Holdco, and Generation and Marketing. Its generation mix spans coal, lignite, natural gas, nuclear, hydro, solar, wind, and other renewable sources. AEP also supplies and markets electric power wholesale to other utilities, rural electric cooperatives, municipalities, and other market participants. Analysts at Truist have pointed to AEP’s position in data center construction corridors as a key long-term growth driver.
Morgan Stanley carries an Overweight rating on the stock with a current price target of $139, raised in July 2026 from an earlier target of $136.
Dominion Energy
Dominion Energy (NYSE: D) is an integrated energy utility offering electricity, natural gas, and related services across the mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Amazon has partnered with Dominion in Virginia to explore the development of a small modular nuclear reactor near the North Anna nuclear facility to power its data centers. That partnership takes on added significance given Dominion’s service territory, which includes nearly 51 gigawatts of contracted data-center capacity as of early 2026.
In a major post-publication development, NextEra Energy announced in May 2026 a $66.8 billion all-stock agreement to acquire Dominion, a transaction that would create the largest regulated electric utility in the United States. The combined entity would serve roughly 10 million utility customers across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, with approximately 110 gigawatts of generating capacity. The deal remains subject to regulatory approvals and shareholder votes, with a closing expected in 12 to 18 months.
Dominion operates through four segments: Dominion Energy Virginia, Gas Distribution, Dominion Energy South Carolina, and Contracted Assets. Its Virginia segment generates, transmits, and distributes regulated electricity to residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in Virginia and North Carolina. The Gas Distribution segment serves residential, commercial, and industrial customers across regulated natural gas gathering, transportation, distribution, and sales. The South Carolina segment provides both electricity and natural gas to customers in that state.
Dominion’s asset base encompasses roughly 30.2 gigawatts of electric generating capacity, approximately 10,500 miles of electric transmission lines, 85,600 miles of electric distribution lines, and 94,200 miles of gas distribution lines, serving a total customer count of about 7 million. Barclays carries an Overweight rating on the stock with a price target of $69.
Entergy
Entergy (NYSE: ETR) is engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution across the Deep South. The company, along with its subsidiaries, produces and distributes electricity in the United States through two core segments and pays a reliable dividend that conservative investors have long valued.
The Utility segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power across portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and the City of New Orleans. It also distributes natural gas in parts of its service territory. The Entergy Wholesale Commodities segment handles the ownership, operation, and decommissioning of nuclear power plants in the northern United States, the sale of electric power to wholesale customers, and services provided to other nuclear plant owners.
Entergy’s generation fleet spans gas, nuclear, coal, hydro, and solar, with total capacity of roughly 24,000 megawatts including about 5,000 megawatts of nuclear power. The company delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. A 20-year agreement signed with a Meta Platforms subsidiary adds approximately $2 billion in projected customer savings and lifts Entergy’s four-year capital plan to $57 billion, underscoring just how deeply hyperscaler demand has reshaped its growth outlook. Retail sales are expected to grow at roughly an 8.5% compound annual rate through 2029, driven by data centers and clean energy projects. KeyCorp carries an Overweight rating on the stock with a current price target of $123.
Sempra
Sempra (NYSE: SRE) is a North American public utility holding company based in San Diego, California. It operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally, and continues to offer investors a solid dividend as the broader sector benefits from data center load growth.
Sempra operates through three segments: Sempra California, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The California segment provides natural gas and electric service to Southern California and part of central California through its subsidiaries, SDG&E and SoCalGas. The Texas Utilities segment holds its investment in Oncor Holdings, which owns an over 80.25% interest in Oncor, a regulated electric transmission and distribution utility serving customers in the north-central, eastern, western, and panhandle regions of Texas, plus an indirect 50% interest in Sharyland Utilities, a regulated electric transmission utility near the Texas-Mexico border. The Infrastructure segment develops, builds, operates, and invests in energy infrastructure projects, including LNG facilities.
Morgan Stanley carries an Overweight rating with a price target of $108, raised in July 2026 from an earlier target of $105.
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Editor’s note: This update refreshes all four analyst price targets, correcting figures that had become stale: Morgan Stanley’s AEP target is now $139 (was $113) and its Sempra target is $108 (was $88); Barclays’ Dominion Energy target is now $69 (was $58); and KeyCorp’s Entergy target is now $123 (was $85). The article also adds the major development that NextEra Energy announced a $66.8 billion all-stock agreement to acquire Dominion Energy in May 2026, a deal pending regulatory approval, as well as Entergy’s 20-year agreement with a Meta Platforms subsidiary and its raised $57 billion capital plan.
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