The charts for nuclear power plays Vistra and Constellation Energy suffered notable setbacks this week, leading the losses on the S&P 500 on Wednesday. Vistra recently leapt past Nvidia, taking the mantle of "new king" as the S&P 500's top gaining stock this year. Both stocks are riding the artificial intelligence energy wave that has propelled utilities.
Vistra advanced 1% to 125.41 and CEG edged up 0.8% to 264.28 Thursday during market action. On Wednesday Vistra fell 2.9% and CEG tumbled 6.1%.
The declines come after Constellation Energy hit an all-time high 288.75 on Monday. Like CEG, Vistra also tallied an all-time high of 143.87 on Monday.
However, Vistra stock is now down 10.2% on the week. Constellation Energy has dropped more than 8% this week.
Going into Thursday trade, VST led the S&P 500, up 222% in 2024. Constellation Energy sits fourth with a 124% advance this year. Vistra is a diversified electric utility and power generation firm, with natural gas, nuclear, solar and battery storage facilities. Meanwhile, Constellation Energy is a top nuclear power provider in the U.S., owning 25% of domestic nuclear power reactors.
Constellation Energy and Vistra, along with other power generators and utility plays, have become artificial intelligence-adjacent plays due to the vast energy needed for the data centers that "train" generative AI systems.
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The Investors Behind VST And CEG
Since December 2023, the number of funds with a stake in S&P 500 top performer Vistra has grown 30%, according to MarketSurge data.
Institutional ownership accounts for more than 90% of VST's outstanding shares, with the top 10 institutional holders accounting for a 39% stake in Vistra, according to FactSet.
The Vanguard Group is the leading shareholder with a 12.12% stake in Vistra, according to FactSet data. Fidelity Investments is second with a 7.26% holding in VST, and BlackRock Fund Advisors rounds out the top three with a 5.67% stake.
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State Street Global Advisors and Geode Capital Management, have 4.46% and 2.44% stakes in Vistra, respectively.
Meanwhile, fund ownership in Constellation Energy has also grown this year but at a slower pace compared to Vistra, rising 9% since December.
Institutional ownership accounts for 82.8% of outstanding shares of CEG. The top 1o institutional investors make up 45.2% of total ownership, according to FactSet.
Similar to Vistra, Vanguard Group is the top CEG shareholder with an 11.28% stake. Capital Research & Management Company has a 7.14% share with State Street Global Advisors coming in third with 5.49%. Fidelity Investments holds 5.45% and BlackRock is fifth with a 4.78% stake.
Geode Capital Management ranks eighth in CEG ownership with 2.09%.
S&P 500: Vistra And Constellation Energy Performance
In late September, Constellation Energy announced a two-decades long contract with Microsoft to provide nuclear power for the tech giant's data centers. The deal involved the reopening of Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island Unit 1, which had been idle since 2019.
Three Mile Island's Unit 2 reactor has been shut down since the 1979, after the partial meltdown at the nuclear power plant. That event sits alongside Russia's Chernobyl and Japan's Fukushima as the largest disasters in the brief history of nuclear power, and they loom large in the minds of utilities and their insurers.
Constellation Energy stock broke out above a traditional buy point on Sept. 20. It has gained 11% since the breakout and is up 26% since Sept. 19.
CEG management said in May it will grow base earnings by at least 10% through the end of the decade.
Constellation Energy stock has a 90 Composite Rating out of a best-possible 99. The S&P 500 stock also has a robust 97 Relative Strength Rating and a 53 EPS Rating.
Similar to CEG, VST stock has rallied more than 30% since Sept. 19. Vistra has gained 4.9% in October after skyrocketing 38.8% in September.
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Top S&P 500 performer Vistra has an 84 Composite Rating and a perfect 99 Relative Strength Rating. VST's EPS Rating is 9.
The 31 stocks in the IBD-tracked Utility-Electric Power industry group have collectively gained 33% in 2024.
Please follow Kit Norton on X @KitNorton for more coverage.
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