Vistra Corp Q1 2026 Earnings: Record Quarterly Profit as Power Demand Climbs

May 8, 2026 · Published August 7, 2026

Vistra posted sharply higher Q1 2026 profit on strong power prices and rising data-center demand, and held its full-year outlook steady.

Figures as reported by the company to the SEC for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. Analyst estimates are not part of a filing, so no comparison to expectations is shown.

Key takeaways

• Vistra’s net income for the quarter was just over $1 billion, up sharply from a year earlier, helped by strong power-generation revenue and a large unrealized gain on hedging contracts used to lock in future power prices.
• Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from ongoing operations hit a first-quarter record of roughly $1.49 billion, driven by higher capacity payments in the PJM grid region (mid-Atlantic/Midwest) and solid output across its power-plant fleet.
• Over the trailing twelve months, revenue grew about 15.7% and operating margin (the share of each revenue dollar left after running costs) stood near 19%, indicating the company has been converting a growing top line into profit efficiently.
• Despite the strong quarter, trailing-twelve-month earnings per share were down about 5% versus the prior year period, a reminder that items like hedging gains and losses can swing results from one stretch to the next.
• Return on equity over the trailing year was notably high at roughly 43%, meaning the company has been generating a large amount of profit relative to shareholders’ invested capital.
• Management reaffirmed its full-year 2026 outlook of $6.8-$7.6 billion in adjusted EBITDA and $3.9-$4.7 billion in adjusted free cash flow before growth spending, unchanged from previous guidance.
• That guidance does not yet include the pending roughly $4.7 billion acquisition of the Cogentrix natural-gas power portfolio, expected to close later in 2026, or new long-term electricity-supply agreements signed with Meta at Vistra’s nuclear plants — meaning management views these as potential additions to results rather than items already reflected in the outlook.
• Executives pointed to a second major credit-rating upgrade to investment-grade status and cited rising electricity demand forecasts — about 5-6% annual load growth in Texas and 2-3% in the PJM region through 2030 — tied largely to data centers and AI computing.

Q1 2026 in context

Figures for the quarter ended Mar 2026 and the quarter ended Mar 2025, as reported to the SEC.

How the stock took it

Vistra Corp closed at $153.95 on May 7, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $152.05 on May 11, 2026, the first session after it — -1.2% across the report.

Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.

Financial history →

Sources: company report · earnings call