Vistra shares bounce off lows on report of $4B nuclear loan

Vistra Corp (NYSE:VST) shares rebounded from earlier declines on Friday, trading 0.3% lower at $139.20 after plummeting to $135.79 following a Bloomberg report that the Trump administration intends to provide the company with a roughly $4 billion loan package to modernize three of its nuclear plants. Prior to the news, the stock hovered around $137.

According to the report, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright is slated to announce the funding as early as Monday during a planned visit to the Perry nuclear complex near Cleveland. The package would finance upgrades at Vistra's two plants in Ohio and another in Pennsylvania, as per sources familiar with the situation, who are not authorized to share details publicly. The Energy Department and Vistra have yet to comment on the matter, as reported.

The loan aims to support capacity expansions at existing facilities, as electricity demand surges due to data centers requiring continuous power. President Trump has set a goal of quadrupling U.S. nuclear capacity by 2050. The precise extent of the planned expansions remains undisclosed. Upgrading existing nuclear plants represents one of the few rapid methods to increase nuclear capacity, as constructing new reactors is a lengthy and capital-intensive process.

Vistra serves as the largest power supplier to the U.S. grid operator, PJM Interconnection LLC, covering Illinois to Washington, D.C., and serving approximately 67 million individuals. PJM has faced challenges in keeping up with the escalating electricity demand from regional data center growth.