Powering the AI Boom: Todd’s New CNBC Column on Vistra and the Future of Energy

CNBC Exclusive: We’re excited to share Todd Gordon’s latest guest column, published on CNBC.com and made available here for our clients:

For this week’s column I was planning to do some simple analysis of the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) showing a daily consolidation / holding pattern that’s been in place since May 13th, 2025. Upon the completion of this consolidation, it’s my belief we should resolve to the upside testing the all-time highs, despite all the lingering macro headwinds. But when I turned on the news this morning and learned about the news of Meta signing a nuclear power deal with Constellation Energy I decided to focus on these companies quite literally powering this revolution in artificial intelligence. I don’t hold Constellation Energy, but I do hold OKLO, GE Vernova, and Vistra Corp in our Tactical Alpha Growth (T.A.G) portfolio at Inside Edge Capital. As the AI buildout quite literally powers ahead, this will be one of the key drivers to break QQQ from the 3-week consolidation setting up all-time highs.

Today we’re going to focus on Vistra Corp (VST), a stock that I also hold in our ‘fast money’ account Active Opps with a 3.6% weighting. Based on today’s news, many of the power generation and equipment suppliers are trading higher along with the semiconductors. I would like to increase my position size in VST to approximately 5% of my holdings in Active Opps based on the tactics I’ll outline below. But first, let’s talk about the company.

Vistra is an integrated power generation and retail electricity company that has positioned itself in a pivotal role to support the AI technology buildout by filling the significant energy demands of AI-driven data centers. In 2024 Vistra acquired Energy Harbor for $3.4 billion adding 4 nuclear power plants to their portfolio. Vistra also has made investments in natural gas assets as well as solar facilities, which allowed them to enter into power purchase agreements (PPA’s) with hyperscalers Amazon and Microsoft to get ahead of the demand of renewable power sources in the AI buildout.

VST has grown top line revenue consistently since 2021 and GAAP EPS aggressively, until this year where analysts see a 11.79% contraction (shown below weekly chart below). Non-GAAP EPS (not shown) is showing growth rates since 2022 of 378%, 88%, 54%, 43%, and in 2026 another 36% growth according to S&P Global Capital IQ.

The weekly chart shows nearby resistance in the $172-$177 zone. I would actually feel better increasing my position size if we can we can get a daily close above $180 setting up a test of all-time highs just below $200.00

Turning to the daily chart, we see a gap up today into our resistance zone following the Constellation / Meta news. If we can get a move into $180 this week I will be looking to add to my position and consider the pivot point that is now support at $165 as my risk containment level.

-Todd Gordon, Founder of Inside Edge Capital, LLC