Vistra Stock Gains Ahead Of Q4 Earnings, Analysts Say ‘Mega Growth’ Probability Lower Post DeepSeek Launch: Retail’s Bearish

Shares of Vistra Corp. (VST) gained more than 7% during regular trade on Wednesday and surged by an additional 2% ahead of the company’s fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

Vistra is expected to post earnings per share (EPS) of $2.22 during Q4, while revenue is estimated to be $3.91 billion. This compares to an EPS of $0.34 and revenue of $3.7 billion during the same period last year.

The Irving, Texas-based electricity utility is scheduled to report its Q4 and FY24 results on Thursday, during after-market hours.

Ahead of the earnings, analysts at Bank of America (BofA) Securities trimmed their price target for the Vistra stock to $183 from $206, following a steep selloff of over 28% after the launch of artificial intelligence (AI) models from China’s DeepSeek. This presents an upside of 23% from Wednesday’s closing price.

The brokerage maintained a ‘Neutral’ rating on the stock and noted that while the DeepSeek selloff is an “overreaction,” there is now a lower probability of a “mega growth” bull phase.

One reason for the tempered expectations is that DeepSeek’s efficiency gains could lead to a higher downside risk for electricity utilities like Vistra.

Data from FinChat shows Vistra stock has an average price target of $175.17, implying an upside of over 18% from current levels.

Of the 16 brokerage recommendations, there are nine ‘Buy’, five ‘Outperform’, one ‘Hold’, and one ‘Sell’ rating.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the Vistra stock remained in the ‘bearish’ (44/100) territory while message volume was at ‘normal’ levels at the time of writing.

Not everyone is bearish, though. One user said that they will continue to hold the stock and play a patient game while enjoying dividends from the company.

Another user quipped that based on the current political regime, Vistra is “safe.”

Vistra stock has brushed off the DeepSeek selloff to gain 7.5% year-to-date (YTD).

However, its one-year performance is far more stellar, where it has nearly tripled in value.

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