Vistra's Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Increase Y/Y

Monday, Mar 2, 2026 9:12 am ET2min read
VST--
Aime RobotAime Summary

- Vistra Corp.VST-- (VST) reported Q4 2025 earnings of $2.18/share, missing estimates by 13.1%, but revenue rose 13.5% to $4.58B.

- Operating costs surged 24.9% to $9.1B annually, while interest expenses jumped 31% to $1.18B, impacting $1.91B operating income.

- VSTVST-- maintained $2.78B liquidity, repurchased $5.9B of shares since 2021, and forecasts $6.8-7.6B 2026 adjusted EBITDA.

- Zacks ranks VST #3 (Hold), contrasting with outperforming peers Dominion EnergyD-- and FirstEnergyFE-- in Q4 2025 results.

Vistra Corp. VST reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings of $2.18 per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.51 by 13.1%. However, the bottom line increased 91.2% from $1.14 in the year-ago quarter.

Total Revenues of VST

Sales for the quarter totaled $4.58 billion, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of nearly $5.34 billion by 14.1%. However, the top line rose 13.5% from $4.04 billion recorded in the year-ago quarter.

Full-year 2025 revenues totaled $17.74 billion compared with $17.22 billion last year.

Vistra Corp. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Vistra Corp. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Vistra Corp. Quote

VST’s Operational Highlights

Fuel, purchased power costs and delivery fees for the year amounted to $9.1 billion, up 24.9% from last year’s $7.29 billion.

Operating costs for the year totaled $2.8 billion, up 16.1% from last year’s $2.41 billion.

Selling, general and administrative expenses amounted to $1.71 billion, up 7.1% from last year’s $1.6 billion.

Operating income totaled $1.91 billion compared with $4.08 billion a year ago.

Interest expenses and related charges came in at $1.18 billion, up 31% from last year.

VST’s Financial Highlights

Cash and cash equivalents totaled $0.79 billion as of Dec. 31, 2025 compared with $1.19 billion as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Net cash flow provided by operating activities in 2025 was $4.07 billion compared with $4.56 billion last year.

Total capital expenditures for 2025 were $2.75 billion compared with $2.09 billion recorded a year ago.

Available liquidity of the company as of Dec. 31, 2025 was $2.78 billion, enough to meet its near-term obligations.

As of Feb. 18, 2026, VistraVST-- executed $5.9 billion in share repurchases since November 2021. Vistra has $1.8 billion dollars of the share repurchase authorization available, which it expects to complete by year-end 2027.

VST’s Guidance

For 2026, VSTVST-- expects its Ongoing Operations Adjusted EBITDA and Ongoing Operations Adjusted free cash flow before growth to be in the band of $6.8-$7.6 billion and $3.925-$4.725 billion, respectively.

VST’s Zacks Rank

The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Recent Releases

Dominion Energy Inc. D delivered fourth-quarter 2025 operating earnings of 68 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 64 cents by 6.3%. The bottom line increased 17.2% from the year-ago quarter's level.

Revenues of $4.09 billion topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.56 billion by 14.9%. The top line rose 20.4% from $3.4 billion in the year-ago quarter.

FirstEnergy Corp. FE registered fourth-quarter 2025 operating earnings of 53 cents per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 52 cents by 1.92%. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 67 cents.

Operating revenues of $3.78 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.25 billion by 16.9%. The top line increased 19.6% from $3.18 billion in the year-ago quarter.

IDACORP, Inc. IDA reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings of 78 cents per share, which topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 74 cents by 5.4%. The company’s earnings improved 11.4% from 70 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2025 were $405.2 million, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $417 million by 2.9%. The metric climbed 1.8% from $398.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

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FirstEnergy Corporation (FE): Free Stock Analysis Report

Dominion Energy Inc. (D): Free Stock Analysis Report

IDACORP, Inc. (IDA): Free Stock Analysis Report

Vistra Corp. (VST): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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