According to reports, several electrical utilities in the USA have reached multiple power supply agreements in the second quarter, strengthening the demand for datacenters brought about by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, and thereby raising expectations for growth in annual electrical sales.

In the second quarter of this year, top public utility companies including American Electric Power and NextEra Energy in the United States have signed relevant contracts, and other companies have also expressed interest in technology companies.

The portfolio manager of Gabelli Funds, Timothy Winter, said: "We have gained some understanding of the opportunities in data centers, and these figures are surprising."

As of March 31, the fund held shares in six public utility companies, such as Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), NextEra Energy, American Electric Power and Generation Company AES Corp.

Ben Levitt, deputy director of electricity and renewable energy at Platts Energy Intelligence, said that since the beginning of this year, the expected cumulative electricity demand of data centers by 2030 for US public utility companies has been raised by about 50%.

Analysts say that sales of public utility companies may grow significantly, and after two years of poor performance, they are expected to reach or exceed their long-term growth targets.

Data shows that for the whole year, the profit of public utility companies is expected to increase by 12.4%, while the profit growth of constituents of the S&P 500 Index is 10.5%.

Analysts predict that in the coming quarters, public utility companies will provide the latest capital spending plans, as well as basic rate case (regulatory procedures required to increase service fees), to provide funds for energy infrastructure upgrades.

Nicholas Campanella, head of US Electric Power and Public Utilities Research at Barclays, said, "We believe that the industry will be quite active in the second half of the year, not only from a financing perspective, but also based on the core yield revision of profits."

In addition, the current rise in temperature may also boost the profits of public utility companies in the third quarter.

Currently, analysts generally believe that even in the case of an economic recession, the performance of US public utility stocks should be better than other categories, but the impact of the US presidential election is still an uncertain factor.

Editor/Lambor