NEW YORK, Jan 10, 2026, 05:38 EST — Market closed
- Vistra shares closed up 10.5% on Friday after a Meta nuclear power pact
- The 20-year contracts cover about 2,609 MW tied to three PJM-area nuclear plants
- Traders now eye regulatory steps, next earnings timing, and Tuesday’s U.S. CPI
Vistra Corp shares jumped 10.5% on Friday and closed at $166.37 after the U.S. power producer said it signed long-term nuclear power contracts with Meta Platforms. StockAnalysis
The deal lands as Big Tech hunts steady electricity for data centers, a scramble Meta says is being driven by artificial intelligence and rising power use. “It will make Meta one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history,” Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, said. Reuters
Meta said its agreements with Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo are expected to support up to 6.6 gigawatts (6,600 megawatts) of new and existing nuclear capacity by 2035. It pointed to its “Prometheus” supercluster in New Albany, Ohio, as one project behind the load growth. Facebook
Vistra said the 20-year power purchase agreements, or PPAs — long-term contracts to supply electricity — cover more than 2,600 megawatts of zero-carbon generation from its Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania and its Davis-Besse and Perry plants in Ohio, in the PJM market. They include 2,176 MW from operating units and 433 MW from “uprates,” equipment upgrades that lift a reactor’s output. “Vistra is proud to partner with Meta on these long-term power purchase agreements,” Chief Executive Jim Burke said. PR Newswire
A regulatory filing showed Vistra expects to start delivering part of the operating power late in 2026, with full delivery by the end of 2027. The additional output from uprates would start arriving in 2031 and reach full delivery by end-2034; Vistra said it expects to begin spending on the projects in 2026, with less than 20% of the total outlay by end-2028. Once fully ramped, Vistra said the contracts could lift its adjusted free cash flow before growth — cash generated before expansion spending — by 8% to 10% from operating units, with another 5% to 7% tied to the uprates, assuming its 2026 guidance. SEC
The power will still run through the mid-Atlantic grid for all customers, even as Meta locks in the supply for its own facilities, according to the companies. Jesse Jenkins, a Princeton University energy-systems researcher, warned that bringing Prometheus online without new supply would “only increase electricity rates across the mid-Atlantic grid.” AP News
Even with the contracts, the hard part sits ahead: uprates and license renewals can drag through regulators, and nuclear units can suffer outages that wipe out output fast. If timelines slip, or if the data-center buildout slows, the cash uplift could arrive later — and look thinner — than traders expect.
Before Monday’s open, traders will watch Friday’s $165.88–$174.74 range and whether the stock can claw back toward its 52-week high near $219.82. Vistra has not set a date for its next results; earnings calendars estimate late February to early March, with projections clustering around Feb. 26 or March 3. The next near-term macro test is Tuesday: the U.S. Consumer Price Index for December is due Jan. 13 at 8:30 a.m. ET. MarketWatch
