Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) stock traded little changed Friday after the power producer reported second-quarter revenue and earnings that missed Wall Street estimates, even as it posted stronger adjusted EBITDA growth and reaffirmed its full-year outlook.

The Irving, Texas-based power producer reported second-quarter earnings of 91 cents per share, missing the analyst consensus estimate of $1.70. Revenue declined to $4.02 billion from $4.25 billion a year earlier and fell short of the Street estimate of $5.57 billion.

GAAP net income declined to $305 million from $327 million in the prior-year quarter. The company said results were weighed down by a $488 million increase in unrealized mark-to-market losses on derivative positions, although this was largely offset by higher realized energy and capacity prices and contributions from assets acquired from Lotus.

Despite the earnings miss, ongoing operations adjusted EBITDA increased 31% year over year to $1.77 billion from $1.35 billion. The improvement was driven primarily by higher realized energy and capacity prices and a full-quarter contribution from the Lotus acquisition.

CEO Highlights AI Infrastructure Opportunity

President and CEO Jim Burke said the company continued to execute well operationally, noting Vistra maintained commercial availability of at least 97% across its generation fleet during periods of extreme summer demand in Texas and the PJM market.

He also highlighted the formation of Helix Digital Infrastructure alongside NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA), KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR) and the Kuwait Investment Authority as a long-term growth opportunity, with Vistra Corp. (NYSE:VST) serving as the venture’s preferred power provider.

Full-Year Guidance Reaffirmed

Vistra reaffirmed its 2026 guidance, maintaining its ongoing operations adjusted EBITDA forecast of $6.8 billion to $7.6 billion and adjusted free cash flow before growth outlook of $3.93 billion to $4.73 billion.

The company said its hedging program covers approximately 100% of expected generation volumes for 2026, 94% for 2027 and 72% for 2028.

Liquidity Remains Strong

The company ended the quarter with approximately $6.3 billion of available liquidity, including $435 million in cash and cash equivalents.

s of Aug. 3, Vistra had repurchased about $6.5 billion of shares since November 2021, reducing shares outstanding by roughly 30%, with approximately $1.2 billion remaining under its authorization.

Earnings Call Highlights

During the earnings call, Vistra said it has committed up to $1 billion to the Helix digital infrastructure platform as part of its long-term growth strategy, leveraging its expertise in power markets to support expanding data center demand.

The company highlighted second-quarter ongoing operations adjusted EBITDA of $1.767 billion, up 31% year over year, driven by favorable hedging activities and strong contributions from both its generation and retail businesses.

Vistra reaffirmed its 2026 ongoing operations adjusted EBITDA guidance of $6.8 billion to $7.6 billion and said it expects to deliver results at or above the midpoint of that range.

Management also said the company expects to generate more than $10 billion in available cash during 2026 and 2027. Of that amount, approximately $3 billion is expected to be returned to shareholders, while $4.5 billion to $5 billion will be invested in growth initiatives.

The company said it remains engaged in ongoing regulatory proceedings and expressed confidence in its strategy despite continued market volatility.

Vistra also reiterated plans to complete its remaining $1.2 billion share repurchase authorization by the end of 2027 and said it could consider additional buybacks over time.

The company added that it has achieved investment-grade credit ratings and is working toward reaching mid-investment-grade ratings across all major credit agencies.

Burke said Vistra expects power demand growth to extend beyond artificial intelligence-driven data centers, citing industrial reshoring, electrification, population growth in Texas and broader economic expansion as additional long-term demand drivers.

While reaffirming that data centers will be a key source of future electricity demand, particularly from 2028 onward, Burke said the company continues to expect annual load growth of 4% to 6% in ERCOT and 2% to 3% in PJM through 2030.

VST Price Action: Vistra shares were up 0.33% at $141.85 at the time of publication on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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