Vistra Stock Surged Following Its $4.2 Billion Federal Loan. With the Stock Down 23% Over the Past Year, Is It Time to Buy?

The U.S. Department of Energy announced a $4.2 billion conditional loan commitment to Vistra to expand power capacity at three nuclear plants in the PJM Interconnection region. The funding will add 433 megawatts of clean baseload capacity to meet surging electricity demand from AI data centers. Despite the positive development, Vistra stock remains down 23% over the past year but now trades at a more attractive valuation of 18.5x forward earnings with projected 18% annual earnings growth.