GE Vernova Stock Bounces Back. Here’s What Helping It.

Coming into Wednesday’s earnings report, GE Vernova stock was up about 80% year to date. (Courtesy GE Vernova)

Key Points

• GE Vernova stock increased 2.5% to $590.54 on Thursday, following a 1.6% decline the previous day.
• CFRA upgraded GE Vernova to Buy from Hold, raising the price target by $10 to $700 per share.
• Analysts project GE Vernova to achieve mid-single digit sales growth and 14% Ebitda profit margins in the coming years.

The artificial-intelligence trade isn’t dead after all.

GE Vernova stock was back in the green Thursday with some help from Wall Street.

The stock had closed lower the previous session, despite a better-than-expected earnings report. Wednesday’s wild stock swings seemed to stem from investors’ concerns that things were as good as they were going to get for the stock. Shares traded as high as $609.54 and as low as $532.72 before closing the session at $576, down 1.6%.

Coming into the earnings report, GE Vernova stock was up about 80% year to date, boosted by the buildout of power-hungry AI data centers, which is driving demand for GE Vernova products.

But GE Vernova stock rose 3.3% to $595.15 on Thursday, giving the stock a two-day gain of about $10 a share. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively.

Helping restore confidence in GE Vernova on Thursday was an upgrade from CFRA analyst Jonathan Sakraida. He took his rating to Buy from Hold and raised the target price by $10 to $700 a share.

Third-quarter “results were soundly positive, both on the demand…and margin fronts…indicating that AI infrastructure spending remains robust,” wrote Sakraida. “Our base assumption is that GE Vernova meets or exceeds its 2026 to 2027 target[s].”

GE Vernova projects it can grow sales at a mid-single digit rate, in percent terms, over the coming years and produce earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, profit margins of 14%. Wall Street expects 2025 Ebitda margins of about 9%.

“The Power/AI/Momentum group unwound for no apparent reason,” said TD Cowen analyst Marc Bianchi in a report following earnings. “The company’s fundamental update was incrementally positive with strong Power and Electrification orders and solid margin performance.”

He rates shares Buy and has a $680 price target for the stock.

Overall, about 62% of analysts covering GE Vernova stock rate shares Buy, according to FactSet. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 is about 55%.

The average analyst price target for GE Vernova stock is about $$682 a share, up about $2 since the company reported earnings.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com