We recently compiled a list of the 12 Best Large Cap Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we will look at where Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) ranks among the best large cap stocks to buy now.
Is the Next Bull Cycle Picking Up?
Analysts’ anticipation about the Fed initiating three rate cuts of 25 basis points each, starting in September, has become a hot topic in the current market. While some economic indicators show resilience, recent market fluctuations have raised concerns about deeper rate cuts being overestimated. Yet, a recession appears unlikely, and the steady economic growth suggests a cautious but positive outlook for the markets.
But the question is: why is a recession even being talked about? We discussed this earlier in another one of our articles, 12 Best Small Cap Tech Stocks to Buy, here’s an excerpt from it:
“Inflation in the US may have reached a 3-year low of 2.6% in August, the lowest rate since March 2021, according to a survey of economists by FactSet. Core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, is believed to have remained at 3.2%.
Inflation peaked at a 4-decade high of 9.1% in June 2022 as the economy rebounded rapidly from the pandemic recession. The Fed responded with 11 rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, raising its key rate to a 23-year high and significantly increasing borrowing costs across the economy. The easing of inflation may pave the way for the Fed to start cutting interest rates next week.”
Binky Chadha, Deutsche Bank’s chief global strategist, joined CNBC last week to discuss what’s next for stocks, given the US elections — particularly the typical pullback seen in the month leading up to closely contested races, where markets often decline by 4% to 5%.
Chadha thinks that this trend, driven by uncertainty, prompts investors to seek protection against volatility, leading to a dip in stock prices. This decline usually hits its lowest point on election day, followed by a substantial rally if the election outcome is clear and resolves uncertainty. Historical instances, such as the Bush/Gore election, show that unresolved outcomes can exacerbate volatility, as seen with further market declines during that period.
Understanding market trends about elections is crucial, as delays can significantly impact investor confidence and overall market behavior. The current market is led by a significant rally in the S&P 500, reaching record highs despite challenges like high interest rates and geopolitical tensions. While election years typically see market weakness, the incumbency of both major party nominees may reduce uncertainty this cycle. However, potential volatility remains as the election approaches and corporate earnings are closely examined against high expectations, according to Chadha.
Chadha further talked about the Bush/Gore election and when a Supreme Court resolution seemed imminent, the market rallied. However, this was followed by a continued market decline. While relying on a single instance for broader conclusions is not ideal, this case reflects general market behavior. It’s important to recognize the prevailing positive trend, despite experiencing two pullbacks.
Chadha said that while the S&P 500 has shown unusual recovery dynamics, peaking with 26% year-on-year sales growth, this growth has slowed unsustainably over the past 2 years. As sales growth decelerates, concerns about potential downturns rise, leading to increased inquiries about negative sales growth in the S&P 500.
While Chadha acknowledges that S&P 500 sales growth has returned to pre-pandemic levels, implying stability, there’s also a decline in the labor market, particularly in private payrolls over the past 7 months. Such a mixed sentiment should be given into and used as a buying opportunity. With that, we’re bringing you a list of the 12 best large-cap stocks to buy now.
Methodology
For this article, we have defined large cap stocks as those trading between $20 billion and $200 billion. We sorted our screen by market cap and looked through the top 25 stocks that matched our criteria. We then selected 12 stocks that were the most popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them, as of Q2 2024.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)
Market Capitalization as of September 13: $29.28 billion
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 92
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) is a Fortune 500 integrated retail electricity and power generation company that owns and operates diverse power plants, including coal, natural gas, nuclear, and renewable energy sources. It also provides energy delivery services, including transmission and distribution to deliver reliable and affordable energy to its customers while reducing environmental impact.
Earlier this year, it finalized the acquisition of Energy Harbor, enhancing its presence in the nuclear energy sector. With nuclear assets, the company can take advantage of the increasing demand for electricity driven by AI, as major hyperscalers enter into contracts with nuclear energy providers for low-cost alternative fuels.
It also commenced the construction of 2 new solar projects: a 200 MW facility backed by Amazon in Texas and a 405 MW site supported by Microsoft in Illinois. Now it’s planning to develop up to 2,000 MW of gas-fired electric generation capacity in Texas, pending the successful implementation of key market reforms, appropriate market signals, and other conditions.
These strategic investments in renewable and gas-fired generation, coupled with Vistra’s robust earnings, demonstrate the company’s commitment to providing reliable, affordable, and sustainable power to its clients while driving growth and shareholder value.
92 hedge funds hold long positions in the company, with a total stake value of $4.03 billion. The highest stake is held by Lone Pine Capital. Investors are becoming more interested in this company because of the way it plans to benefit from the growing popularity of GenAI since rising AI use is directly related to rising energy needs.
Legacy Ridge Capital stated the following regarding Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) in its Q2 2024 investor letter:
“One of the sectors we know well which had been out of favor for several years has quickly come into favor: Independent Power Producers (IPPs). We’ve written consistently about NRG and Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) since the 2019 letter, have owned each, or both, since 2018, and invested a meaningful amount of our assets in VST specifically the past few years. Nate and I intend on spending more time in the year-end letter on our updated views on the IPPs and our learnings from the on-going investment, but we were a bit surprised how quickly the narrative around these companies changed. Our Blue Sky 2030 estimates of intrinsic value converged with the share price 6-years before we thought probable. In the 2019 letter, with respect to VST, we wrote:
“Over the next decade management should have close to $15 Billion to deploy to share repurchases. If you assume they have to pay an average price for the stock that’s higher than the current one, and they can only repurchase 60% of shares outstanding instead of the 100% the math implies, FCF per share in 2030 would be $14. That’s a $70 stock at today’s valuation, but a $140 stock at a more reasonable FCF yield of 10%.” And… “The IPPs are un-investable for most money managers, so there we are. When they become investable we’ll probably be long gone.”
We’re not exactly long gone, but sentiment has certainly surpassed investable. After 5+ years of VST trading between $17 – $26 a share—and $26 exactly a year ago—it hit a high of $107 in May on the heels of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) narrative and the implications for electricity demand. While we agree with the prevailing consensus view that more Data Centers will be built, Data Centers require base load energy, and that the US will probably be short base load energy, predicting the rate of any technological advancement is not our area of expertise, and we feel the margin of safety has dissipated. Therefore, what had been our largest position entering 2023 and 2024, and has been our greatest contributor to performance, is now one of the smaller positions in the fund.”
Overall VST ranks 7th on our list of the best large cap stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential of VST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold great promise for delivering high returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than VST but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published on Insider Monkey.
