Vertiv Stock (VRT) in December 2025: AI Data Center Supercycle, New Deals, and Wall Street Forecasts

Updated: December 6, 2025

Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE: VRT) has become one of the purest “picks-and-shovels” plays on the global AI data center build‑out, and the final weeks of 2025 are packed with catalysts: a big AI‑focused acquisition, a strategic power alliance with Caterpillar, deeper collaboration with NVIDIA, and a fresh wave of analyst upgrades.

As of early trading in December 2025, Vertiv stock trades around $189 per share, near the top of its 52‑week range of roughly $53.60 to $202.45, implying a market capitalization in the high‑$60 billion range and a trailing P/E ratio close to 68 with a PEG ratio around 1.4–1.5. ^[1]

The share price is up more than 50% year‑to‑date, with some estimates placing 2025 gains closer to 60%, easily outpacing major indices and many mega‑cap tech names. ^[2]

Below is a structured look at the latest news, numbers, and forecasts shaping the Vertiv (VRT) story as of December 6, 2025.

Vertiv Stock Today: Price, Valuation and Volatility

Market data from early December show: ^[3]

Share price: ≈$189
52‑week range: ≈$53.60 – $202.45
Market cap: ≈$68–72 billion
Trailing P/E: ~67–70
PEG ratio: ~1.46
Beta: ~2.0 (meaning Vertiv tends to move about twice as much as the broader market)
Balance sheet: quick ratio ~1.4, current ratio ~1.8, debt‑to‑equity around 0.8

In short: Vertiv is now a large‑cap, high‑beta growth stock priced at a hefty premium to traditional industrial peers, reflecting investors’ belief that it sits at the heart of a multi‑year AI infrastructure supercycle. ^[4]

What Vertiv Actually Does – and Why AI Loves It

Vertiv designs, manufactures and services critical digital infrastructure for data centers, telecom networks and mission‑critical industrial sites in more than 130 countries. TechStock²+2GuruFocus+2

Key businesses:

Power systems: UPS (uninterruptible power supplies), DC power systems, power distribution, switchgear and busway.
Thermal management: air and liquid cooling systems for high‑density racks and entire data halls.
Racks, enclosures and integrated solutions: pre‑engineered rack and white‑space solutions for data centers and edge sites.
Monitoring, software and lifecycle services: infrastructure management, predictive services and optimization.

AI data centers—in particular GPU‑heavy clusters for generative AI and high‑performance computing—need far more power and far more sophisticated cooling than old‑school enterprise IT rooms. Vertiv’s portfolio in liquid cooling, high‑density thermal systems, power trains and modular “blocks” of data center capacity puts it squarely in the path of this wave of spending. TechStock²+2Vertiv+2

Q3 2025: A Breakout Quarter With Raised Guidance

Vertiv’s third quarter of 2025, reported on October 22, is the backbone of the current bull case. ^[5]

Headline numbers for Q3 2025:

Net sales: $2.676 billion
- Up 29% year‑over‑year, driven by 43% growth in the Americas and 20% in APAC.
Organic net sales growth: ~28%
Orders: organic orders up ≈60% year‑over‑year and 20% sequentially vs. Q2 2025.
Book‑to‑bill: about 1.4x, pushing backlog to $9.5 billion.
Adjusted operating profit: $596 million, up 43% from a year earlier.
Adjusted operating margin:22.3%, up 220 basis points year‑on‑year and 380 bps sequentially.
Diluted EPS: $1.02 GAAP; $1.24 adjusted, up 63% vs. Q3 2024 and well above consensus near $0.99. ^[6]

Free cash flow was strong as well:

Adjusted free cash flow: about $462 million for the quarter.
Net leverage roughly 0.5x, with liquidity around $2.7 billion. ^[7]

Management used that momentum to raise full‑year 2025 guidance:

Net sales: $10.16–$10.24 billion
Organic net sales growth: 26–28%
Adjusted operating margin: ~20–20.5%
Adjusted EPS:$4.07–$4.13 (up from prior guidance around $3.80 at mid‑point)
Adjusted free cash flow: $1.4–$1.5 billion

For Q4 2025, Vertiv guided to: ^[8]

Net sales of $2.81–$2.89 billion
Organic growth of 18–22%
Adjusted EPS of $1.23–$1.29
Adjusted FCF of $470–$530 million

The company also noted that Moody’s upgraded Vertiv’s credit rating to Ba1, citing its strong market position and cash generation. ^[9]

New Deals: Building a Full‑Stack AI Data Center Platform

2025 has been the year Vertiv aggressively expanded beyond hardware into services, software and integrated AI infrastructure. Several deals announced this year are central to the new investment narrative.

1. PurgeRite: A $1 Billion Bet on Liquid Cooling Services

On November 3, 2025, Vertiv announced it would acquire PurgeRite Intermediate, an HVAC services firm specializing in mechanical flushing, purging and filtration for large cooling systems, for about $1 billion in cash from private‑equity seller Milton Street Capital. ^[10]

Key points:

PurgeRite’s services are critical for liquid and advanced air cooling loops in data centers and industrial facilities.
The deal is expected to close in Q4 2025, and Vertiv has since announced completion of the acquisition, positioning it as a leader in liquid cooling services at precisely the moment AI workloads push thermal systems to their limits. ^[11]
An additional $250 million earn‑out tied to 2026 performance has been referenced in analyst commentary, underscoring the growth expectations baked into the transaction. ^[12]

This acquisition complements Vertiv’s existing liquid cooling hardware by attaching a high‑margin, recurring service layer.

2. Waylay NV: Bringing Generative AI Into Infrastructure Management

On August 26, 2025, Vertiv acquired Waylay NV, a Belgium‑based specialist in hyperautomation and generative AI software platforms. Terms were not disclosed. ^[13]

Waylay’s technology will be used to:

Deliver AI‑driven monitoring and control for power and cooling systems.
Enable real‑time analytics, predictive maintenance and dynamic optimization of data center infrastructure. ^[14]

Analysts at Evercore ISI reiterated an Outperform rating and a $165 target when the deal was announced, arguing that AI‑enabled services are becoming essential as AI workloads grow more power‑intensive and complex. ^[15]

3. Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets: Strengthening Physical Infrastructure

Earlier in 2025, Vertiv agreed to acquire Great Lakes Data Racks & Cabinets, a privately held U.S. rack and cabinet maker, for about $200 million, a valuation of roughly 11.5x projected 2026 EBITDA. ^[16]

The goal: strengthen Vertiv’s ability to deliver standardized, pre‑engineered infrastructure systems—racks, containment and white‑space solutions tailored to AI and edge computing.

4. Strategic Energy Optimization Collaboration With Caterpillar

On November 18, 2025, Vertiv and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) announced a strategic collaboration to provide integrated energy optimization solutions for AI data centers. ^[17]

The partnership will:

Combine Caterpillar and Solar Turbines’ on‑site power generation (natural‑gas turbines and reciprocating engines, CCHP systems)
With Vertiv’s power distribution and cooling portfolio, packaged as modular, pre‑designed blocks
Offer “reference architectures” that:
- Accelerate time‑to‑power for new data centers
- Improve Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and overall energy efficiency
- Reduce dependence on the grid and simplify deployment and lifecycle support

For hyperscalers racing to deploy multi‑gigawatt AI capacity, being able to bring your own power and cooling in a standardized stack is a major selling point.

5. NVIDIA Collaboration: 800 VDC Platforms for AI Factories

On October 13, 2025, Vertiv detailed progress on its collaboration with NVIDIA to develop 800‑volt DC power architectures for the next generation of “AI factories.” ^[18]

Highlights:

Vertiv’s 800 VDC power platform is now at an advanced design stage, with product releases targeted for the second half of 2026, aligned with the rollout of NVIDIA Rubin Ultra platforms in 2027.
The designs include centralized rectifiers, high‑efficiency DC busways and rack‑level DC‑DC converters aimed at megawatt‑scale racks.
Vertiv is already engaged in early design phases of large AI factory projects, where these architectures are being validated against gigawatt‑scale power demands.

Together, the NVIDIA and Caterpillar partnerships position Vertiv not just as a component vendor, but as a systems‑level architect of future AI megacenters.

Dividend Hike and Capital Allocation

Vertiv is still very much a growth story, but management has started to sweeten shareholder returns.

On November 14, 2025, the company announced a 66.7% increase in its quarterly dividend, raising it from $0.0375 to $0.0625 per share. ^[19]
That equates to an annualized dividend of $0.25 per share, implying a modest forward yield of roughly 0.1–0.15% at current prices.
The higher dividend is supported by strong free cash flow: Vertiv generated about $1.2 billion of FCF in 2024, and management now targets $1.4–$1.5 billion for 2025. ^[20]

At the same time, the company continues to invest heavily in capacity, R&D and M&A, signaling a preference for reinvestment over large‑scale buybacks for now.

S&P 500 Rebalancing: Vertiv Misses the Cut, But Stays on Watchlists

Coming into December, several research notes and media reports highlighted Vertiv as a leading candidate for inclusion in the S&P 500 during the index’s quarterly rebalance, citing its size, liquidity and profitability. ^[21]

However, when S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the December 2025 changes, the spots went instead to:

Carvana (CVNA)
CRH (CRH)
Comfort Systems USA (FIX)

Vertiv and SoFi were noted as high‑profile exclusions, and both dipped slightly in after‑hours trading after the announcement. ^[22]

Practically, this means:

No near‑term forced buying from S&P 500 index funds.
But Vertiv remains on the shortlist of potential future additions, given its market cap and role in AI infrastructure, which could keep it in the conversation for subsequent rebalances. ^[23]

Wall Street View: Ratings, Targets and Growth Forecasts

Analysts are broadly bullish on Vertiv, though there is debate on how much upside remains after the 2025 rally.

Consensus Ratings and Targets

MarketBeat:
- Rating: “Moderate Buy” from 29 analysts
- Breakdown: 1 Sell, 5 Hold, 21 Buy, 2 Strong Buy
- Average 12‑month price target: ≈$178. ^[24]
TipRanks (via recent coverage):
- Around 17 analysts in the last three months
- Consensus: “Strong Buy,” with the vast majority rating Vertiv a Buy. TechStock²
Barchart summary:
- Around 24 analysts: 18 “Strong Buy,” 2 “Moderate Buy,” 3 Hold, 1 Strong Sell
- Average target price: ≈$193, with a high estimate around $234—roughly 8–30% upside from current levels depending on the scenario. ^[25]

TD Cowen: “2026 Best Idea” and $211 Price Target

On December 1, 2025, TD Cowen raised its Vertiv price target from $210 to $211 and called the stock its “2026 Best Idea” in AI infrastructure. ^[26]

Key arguments from TD Cowen:

Vertiv is a “picks and shovels” leader for AI data centers.
The firm is tracking roughly 11 GW of U.S. data center leasing and expects robust AI‑driven capex into 2026.
Revenue growth over the last twelve months is near 29%, with analysts projecting a similar rate for the full year. ^[27]

Earnings Trajectory

Recent forecasts and commentary suggest: ^[28]

2025 EPS growth: around +44–45%, toward the high end of Vertiv’s own guidance range of $4.07–$4.13.
2026 EPS growth: in the mid‑20s percent, followed by low‑20s percent expansion in 2027 in some models.
Some DCF‑based estimates (e.g., Simply Wall St) project revenue climbing toward $13.9 billion and earnings of around $2.3 billion by 2028, implying mid‑teens annual revenue growth from current levels and valuing the shares near $195—only modestly above today’s price. ^[29]

Wall Street broadly agrees that growth will remain strong, but there is less agreement on how much of that growth is already priced in.

Valuation: High Expectations, High Multiple

A big part of the Vertiv debate is valuation.

Metrics from recent coverage: ^[30]

Trailing P/E: roughly 65–70x
Forward P/E: estimates vary, but some analyses peg it around 30–35x on 2026 earnings.
Price‑to‑sales (P/S): around 6–7x
Price‑to‑book (P/B): well into the high‑teens
PEG: ~1.4–1.5

Research platforms such as GuruFocus and Simply Wall St flag Vertiv as “significantly overvalued” or “priced for perfection” by traditional metrics, even as they acknowledge strong growth, margins and balance‑sheet quality. ^[31]

In other words, the market is not treating Vertiv like a sleepy industrial. It is pricing it more like a high‑growth AI infrastructure platform—which leaves less room for execution missteps or a slowdown in AI capex.

Key Risks for Vertiv Stock

Despite the strong fundamentals, investors face several important risks:

AI Capex Cyclicality
The bull case assumes sustained, multi‑year AI data center investment by hyperscalers, cloud providers and large enterprises. A slowdown in AI spending, tighter budgets, or a shift toward more efficient compute architectures could hit orders and margins. ^[32]
Competitive and Technology Risk
Vertiv competes with large players like Eaton, Schneider Electric and others, all of whom are investing heavily in liquid cooling and AI‑ready power systems. A disruptive cooling or power innovation from competitors—or customers building more in‑house solutions—could erode Vertiv’s moat. TechStock²+1
Integration Risk from M&A
Deals such as PurgeRite, Waylay and Great Lakes must be integrated smoothly. If they add complexity without delivering the expected margin and service‑revenue uplift, the M&A strategy could be questioned. ^[33]
Valuation and Volatility
With a beta above 2 and a rich multiple, Vertiv is prone to sharp swings on any AI‑related or macro headline. A few disappointing quarters, guidance cuts, or a negative turn in the AI narrative could compress the multiple quickly. ^[34]
Regulation and Energy Constraints
AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power and water. Policy shifts, local opposition to new plants, grid constraints or stricter environmental rules could slow project timelines or necessitate more capital‑intensive solutions, affecting returns. ^[35]

Vertiv Stock Outlook: 2026 and Beyond

Putting the pieces together:

Structural tailwind: AI and cloud demand are driving a global build‑out of high‑density data centers, and Vertiv is deeply embedded in the power, cooling and integrated infrastructure stack.
Execution: Q3 2025 showed rapid growth, expanding margins, rising free cash flow and strong orders, with backlog up to $9.5 billion. ^[36]
Strategy: Recent deals (PurgeRite, Waylay, Great Lakes) plus partnerships (Caterpillar, NVIDIA) are transforming Vertiv into a full‑stack AI infrastructure provider, from on‑site power generation to grid‑to‑chip cooling and AI‑driven monitoring. ^[37]
Financial profile: Low net leverage, upgraded credit ratings, and strong free cash flow give Vertiv room to keep investing in capacity and acquisitions while still returning some cash via dividends. ^[38]

On the other hand:

The stock has already re‑rated dramatically and now trades at premium AI‑style multiples.
Bulls argue that Vertiv is in the early innings of a multi‑year data center supercycle; bears worry that expectations have run ahead of fundamentals.

For investors, Vertiv (VRT) now clearly represents a high‑beta, AI‑infrastructure growth stock rather than a traditional industrial. Long‑term performance is likely to depend less on quarter‑to‑quarter noise and more on whether:

AI data center demand stays robust into the late 2020s
Vertiv continues to convert that demand into high‑margin systems, software and services
Management executes on integration and capacity expansion without sacrificing returns

As always, this overview is informational, not investment advice. Anyone considering VRT should weigh the upside of the AI infrastructure theme against the risks of paying a premium valuation in a cyclical, capital‑intensive business.