10 Hottest Large-Cap Stocks So Far in 2025

3. Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST)

• YTD Performance: 14%

Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST) has been on an even more bullish trajectory in the past year. It has gained 333.6% in the past year and YTD performance hasn’t disappointed either.

Vistra is a power company that generates electricity and sells it to customers in states like Texas and Illinois. The more recent buzz around it has been centered on beating expectations and boosting guidance. They beat both revenue and EPS expectations in Q3, with revenue up almost 54% year-over-year and EPS up 276.1%.

I’ve noticed plenty of bullish chatter among investors who believe nuclear and renewable expansions position the firm to ride the wave of AI-related data center demand. However, some are now worried the stock is running too hot.

Here’s what Jim Cramer said: “Right now, there are two utilities that generate a lot of nuclear power, Vistra and Constellation Energy, the latter of which just got a big contract with the feds, $1 billion, to expand a nuclear site. The big utilities are frantically trying to meet power demand generated by the data center revolution. I think these two stocks are now way ahead of themselves.“

I partially agree with Jim here. The downside risk is quite bad if things don’t turn out well, but as he himself says, there’s a huge amount of power demand. I don’t see VST stock going down too much unless we see that demand start to cool.