Power Plays & Peculiar Bets

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Nuclear Power Plant

One does rather tire of the breathless pronouncements regarding technological marvels. Nvidia and Palantir, darling of the moment, no doubt. But the truly discerning investor looks beyond the glittering baubles to where the real money will be made. And, my dears, it isn’t in processing power; it’s in the decidedly less glamorous business of providing the electricity to run the infernal machines.

BlackRock, bless their sensible hearts, seem to have stumbled upon this rather elementary truth. Artificial intelligence, it appears, is rather power-hungry. Deloitte anticipates a thirty-fold increase in consumption by those data centres. Thirty-fold! One almost feels sorry for the electricity companies, being forced to cater to such gluttony. Almost. So, let’s examine a few companies poised to benefit, or at least, not entirely collapse under the strain.

Bloom Energy

Small modular nuclear reactors. How terribly futuristic. The idea, of course, is to generate power on-site, bypassing the tiresome inefficiency of the national grid. A perfectly sensible notion, if one can overlook the small matter of designing and installing a miniature nuclear power plant. Years, apparently. Years! Meanwhile, these data centres require power now. Bloom Energy, offering hydrogen fuel cells, provides a rather temporary solution. Though, one suspects, they’d be perfectly happy if it became a permanent one.

Bloom Energy, producing electricity from hydrogen, was once prohibitively expensive. Now, it’s merely expensive. Progress, you see. Last quarter they managed a respectable $778 million in business, a 36% increase. Institutions, it seems, are desperate enough to pay. Analysts predict further acceleration, forecasting a 27% annual growth rate for solid oxide fuel cells. Quite the bandwagon, isn’t it? And, remarkably, they’re actually profitable. A rare and delightful occurrence. At 100 times projected earnings, it’s admittedly a bit of a gamble, but a doubling of profits is anticipated. One might even call it… optimistic. A dip in the price? A buying opportunity, naturally.

Constellation Energy

Constellation Energy. One vaguely recalls them. They’re the chaps restarting the mothballed nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island. Rather dramatic, wouldn’t you say? Apparently, it’s to power one of Microsoft’s data centres. The truly remarkable thing, however, is that nuclear power is back in vogue. The U.S. Department of Energy anticipates a quadrupling of output by 2050. A most unexpected revival.

And Constellation, being the largest nuclear operator in the U.S., is perfectly positioned to capitalize. They already generate more nuclear power than the rest of the country combined. A rather dominant position, wouldn’t you agree? One suspects this stock will behave more like a growth stock than a value stock. Analysts, at least, seem to think so, with a price target 25% above the current level. One must always be wary of analysts, of course, but it’s a pleasant thought nonetheless.

GE Vernova

GE Vernova. Another spin-off from the ever-disassembling General Electric. They sell turbines, reactors, wind farms, and all manner of power-generating equipment. Nothing specifically AI-related, you understand. But the proliferation of data centres is straining power grids, and GE Vernova, indirectly, benefits. It’s rather like being a supplier to a particularly extravagant party.

Their revenue increased by a modest 9% last year, but orders soared by 34%, creating a backlog of $150 billion. Roughly four years’ worth of business. A rather reassuring sight. The only concern is their ability to actually manufacture and deliver all this equipment. But that, my dears, is a good problem to have. They’re wisely investing $600 million in factories. One can only hope it’s enough.

So, there you have it. A few peculiar bets for the discerning investor. Perhaps not terribly exciting, but then, excitement is so often overrated. One prefers a quiet, profitable life, thank you very much.

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2026-03-04 13:22