Retail electricity and power generation company Vistra Energy (VST) is set to release its Q1 earnings report on Wednesday. This has some investors wondering whether it’s a good idea to buy shares of VST stock beforehand.
What Wall Street Expects
Wall Street is expecting Vistra to report an earnings per share of $0.54, marking a 134.78% rise compared to the same period last year. Net sales are projected to hit $4.4 billion, up 44.14% from the same time last year.
Will Vistra be able to beat these estimates? As one can see below it has a patchy recent record of doing so in the last few quarters.
Analyst Comments on VST Stock Prior to Earnings
The company is expected to have benefited from President Trump’s new focus on fossil fuels and his ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ mantra.
BofA raised the firm’s price target on Vistra to $154 from $148 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm updated its EBITDA estimates and lowered the discount on the coal business to 5% from 10% due to the increasingly favorable political environment for coal and the increasing need for baseload power.
Goldman Sachs recently initiated coverage of Vistra with a Neutral rating and $134 price target. It said it is benefiting from the favorable macro backdrop and the company’s opportunity for a data center deal. It views Vistra as well positioned to benefit from rising power demand, however it is more concerned with risk around data center demand and uncertainty around colocation deals.
Is VST a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, VST has a Strong Buy consensus based on 6 Buy and 2 Hold ratings. Its highest price target is $202. VST stock’s consensus price target is $158.38 implying an 10.28% upside.
