Constellation Energy wipes out big losses to surge on AI data center deal hopes

It was shaping up to be a dark day for Constellation Energy.

The stock was tumbling in the premarket session after the company’s Q1 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization fell 45% shy of expectations.

But President and CEO Joseph Dominguez changed hearts and minds with his commentary on the conference call, sending shares up double digits by noon and making Constellation the top performer in the S&P 500.

Dominguez talked up the energy generator and distributor’s prospects as a solution for power-guzzling data centers, nodding toward new deals in the pipeline.

“In fact, we’re making tremendous progress today toward reaching agreements with our customers,” he said, later adding that the AI data center boom was far from over.

Per the CEO:

“The Trump administration has made clear that the US must win the AI race and the administration is taking steps to ensure that we will. They understand that the data economy is critically important to national security and to our economies and will be an important driver of America’s success. I can tell you that I’ve been in Washington a lot and I haven’t had a single conversation with anyone from the administration or any member of Congress where the importance of AI leadership has not come up.

And notwithstanding news and rumors to the contrary that we’ve seen, the major tech companies get it too and they’ve increased or recommitted to their capital plans for data center build-up. They are making these investments because AI is delivering for customers and you can see it in their business results.”

Later on in the call, when Jefferies analyst Paul Zimbardo asked him if he was “pretty close” to a deal, Dominguez replied, “We’re at a very good stage in the process. I’ll simply put it that way.”

Zimbardo, who rates the stock a “hold” with a price target of $223, wrote in a note that Constellation’s commentary regarding fresh agreements was an “intriguing and positive statement.”

Other AI-adjacent momentum stocks like Vistra also managed to reverse early losses to climb higher, seemingly thanks to Dominguez’s optimistic tone on the industry’s outlook.