Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) and Constellation Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:CEG) shares traded higher Thursday after RBC Capital raised price targets on both stocks amid growing demand for energy to power data centers and other AI infrastructure. 

The Details: Energy stocks continue to climb as demand for electricity to power data centers and other AI applications soars. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai told Nikkei in an interview on Thursday that Google is considering powering its data centers with nuclear power plants. 

Constellation Energy already signed a 20-year nuclear power purchase agreement with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) to deliver clean energy to its AI infrastructure. The comments from Google's CEO suggest other AI hyper-scalers may follow the same path. 

Read Next: What Happened With Accenture Stock Today?

RBC Capital analyst Shelby Tucker maintained Vistra with an Outperform and raised the price target on the stock from $105 to $141. The RBC analyst also maintained a Sector Perform rating on Constellation Energy and raised its price target from $214 to $272 on Thursday.

Vistra was the best performer in the S&P 500 Index on Thursday and remains the best performer in the S&P 500 year-to-date. According to data from Benzinga Pro, Vistra has jumped 243% in 2024 and Constellation Energy is up 137% year-to-date. 

VST, CEG Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Vistra shares ended Thursday's session up 5.65% at $132.45 and Constellation Energy shares closed up 4.52% at $277.37.

Read Also:

• What’s Going On With MicroStrategy Stock?

Photo: Shutterstock