S&P 500 stock NRG Energy led a rally of mixed energy names after reporting its Q4 results Wednesday.
NRG reported earnings of $1.56 a share, vs. FactSet analyst views for $1.56. Revenue came in at $6.86 billion, below consensus views for $7.815 billion. Management guided 2025 earnings expectations to between $6.75 and $7.75 per share. The midpoint of that range, $7.25, was below consensus views for $7.37.
Despite the miss, NRG shares hustled up a 7% gain in early trade. Fellow utility and S&P 500 stock Constellation Energy jumped 5% ahead at the open.
The need for 'hyperscale' data center computing power is driving energy demand and investor interest in select utilities. NRG is partnered with GE Vernova in an ambitious rollout of gas-fired generators through 2040 to help meet that demand.
Constellation in September inked a two-decade contract to provide Microsoft with nuclear power for its data center expansion.
SMR Names Rally
Development-stage nuclear energy stocks also rallied early Wednesday. Lightbridge jumped nearly 3%. Oklo popped 9.8%. Nuscale Power swung 6.1% higher. GE Vernova moved up 7%.
Oklo, the nuclear power startup backed by OpenAI head Sam Altman, on Tuesday announced participation in a federal voucher program funded through the Department of Energy and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. The funds will go to support testing of Oklo's Aurora powerhouse, a leader in the trend toward small modular reactor technologies.
Sam Altman Nuclear Startup Continues Hot; 'Great Position To Capitalize' On AI Revolution
There are currently no commercially viable SMRs in operation. But analysts broadly view Oklo as the SMR-focused company likely to come online first, aiming for a launch at the end of 2026. Others are targeting rollouts in the 2030s.
In early February, B. Riley raised its price target on the S&P 500 stock to 58, up from 27. It kept its buy rating steady. Craig Hallum initiated coverage in January with a 44 target and a buy rating.
S&P 500 Stocks
NRG's stock price has held steady support at its 10-week moving average, despite the overall market's recent turbulence. Shares are up 13% year to date, following a 75% advance in 2024. NRG stock is pulled back below a 103.13 buy point after breaking out from a six-week flat base, and poised for a rebound from 10-week support.
NRG shows an average true range of 3.84%. The average true range is a metric available via IBD's MarketSurge charting tool. It gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior. Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily action, the kind that can trigger sell rules and shake investors out of a stock, have a high ATR. Stocks that tend to make more incremental moves have lower ATRs.
In the current, unpredictable market, IBD suggests stocks with ATRs of 3% or below.
S&P 500 stock Constellation has broken down below its 10-week line, triggering the automatic sell rule following an early January breakout. Oklo, a younger, wilder stock, has also broken support. Its ATR is 13.1%.
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