From Barron's, December 8:
The buildout of artificial-intelligence data centers has been a boon for utilities, makers of power-generation equipment, and hosts of industrial companies supplying electrical components.
That isn’t likely to change in 2026. Investors, however, might need to refine their portfolios a little to keep getting the jolt from artificial intelligence.
“Heading into 2026, we expect baseload power sources to remain top of mind for investors, though we expect the thematic trade to become more nuanced by individual stock fundamentals and valuation, rather than simply by exposure,” wrote J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Strouse on Monday.His top picks are renewable-power generator Brookfield Renewable Partners, solar technology company Nextpower NXT , and GE Vernova GEV , a provider of power-generation technology.
He expects Brookfield to continue to buy renewable projects. Orders are picking up at GE Vernova, and Nextpower “is well positioned to gain market share within the global utility-scale market,” said Strouse. “We also believe that Nextpower’s recently issued long-term financial targets, based on third-party market forecasts, should prove overly conservative.”
In November, Nextpower laid out plans to increase earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, to about $1.2 billion, from about $790 million expected for fiscal 2026.
Along with those three, Strouse upgraded shares of electrical infrastructure provider Quanta Services PWR and backup power provider Generac to Buy from Hold.
His Quanta price target went to $515 from $457 a share. “We expect Quanta Services to benefit over time from large projects that are only partially included in current backlog, providing visibility into above-trend backlog conversion as well as future backlog additions as projects progress,” the analyst said....
....MORE
Also at Barron's, December 9, a follow-up to their Dec 3 article on today's GEV Investor Day:
