We recently published a list of 12 AI News and Ratings You Should Not Miss. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) stands against other trending AI stocks on the latest analyst ratings and news.
CNBC’s Deidre Bosa joined ‘Money Movers’ to discuss the potential impact of a second Trump administration on the artificial intelligence trade. Bosa notes that artificial intelligence could be “less regulated” and “more volatile” under Trump’s leadership. However, the president-elect’s AI policy could be a boon to the industry itself, albeit at the expense of necessary guardrails for AI. Back in June, Republicans adopted a new party platform containing a provision related to scrapping Biden’s executive orders on AI.
READ ALSO: 10 AI News You Shouldn’t Miss and 15 Trending AI Stocks on Latest Analyst Ratings and News
Biden’s executive orders sought to tackle new technology threats by requiring developers of powerful AI systems to share their safety test results with the US government and also called on federal agencies to develop guidelines for the responsible use of AI domains. On the other hand, Trump’s allies have been proposing a different executive order that would launch a series of “Manhattan Projects” for developing military technology and immediately review “unnecessary and burdensome regulations” to “Make America Great in AI”.
Trump, however, seems to be only one of the few who thinks imposing guardrails on artificial intelligence could prove detrimental to the US. A poll shared with Time reveals that Americans across the political spectrum are skeptical about the idea that the U.S. should avoid regulating AI to outcompete China. According to a poll by the AI Policy Institute (AIPI), 75% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans believe that “taking a careful controlled approach” to AI is preferable as opposed to “moving forward on AI as fast as possible to be the first country to get extremely powerful AI.”
The Latest Developments in AI
Amid the ongoing debate, recent developments in AI are rapidly shaping the landscape in the backdrop. For instance, Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search engine, is said to be raising new investment that would value the search startup to a staggering $9 billion. The new funding round is set to raise $500 million led by venture capital firm Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), which also holds a board seat in the startup.
In other news, OpenAI, an AI research lab and company, has acquired Chat.com, further adding to its collection of high-profile domain names. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the acquisition via email. While such AI-related news is often striking, AI capabilities continue to surprise even the most seasoned experts. In fact, AI can now even help you become a better parent. On Thursday, Andreessen Horowitz’s partner Justine Moore took to X to share an investment idea, advocating for “a new wave of ‘parenting co-pilots’ powered by LLMs and agents. She highlighted companies such as Cradlewise, creators of an AI-driven baby monitor that tracks sleep patterns and rocks the crib, and Nanit, which utilizes AI to analyze crib footage and monitor a baby’s breathing.
“Imagine an AI parenting companion that’s always in your corner – ready to answer questions or talk about how you’re feeling at any time of the day (or night)”.
– Andreessen Horowitz partner Justine Moore
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds.
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).
A chart showing the trend of the energy sector’s stock prices.
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 92
Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) operates as an integrated retail electricity and power generation company. The stock is driven by the huge power demand from AI data centers.
Donald Trump’s focus on fossil fuels and less attention on renewables has the potential to disrupt the energy space. On November 7, CNBC posted post-election notes from firms such as Jefferies and JPMorgan to discuss the stocks that are most likely to emerge as winners or losers. As per JP Morgan and Jefferies, gas stocks exposed to natural gas are likely to emerge as the biggest winners.
“Under a more carbon-agnostic agenda, we would […] expect the Trump administration to be more supportive of gas generation,” JPMorgan analyst Kevin Kwan told clients in a Wednesday note.
In particular, Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) has been soaring to the top of S&P, driven by hopes of securing a deal to power data centers using one of its nuclear plants. According to JP Morgan, the company has “significant assets”, and is likely to benefit from the fossil-fuel-friendly Trump administration.
Overall, VST ranks 1st on our list of trending AI stocks on the latest analyst ratings and news. While we acknowledge the potential of VST as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher 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 is originally published at Insider Monkey.