We're raising our GE Vernova price target as shares deservedly hit all-time highs

CNBC Finance

4 min read

GE Vernova stock deservedly hit all-time highs Wednesday after the energy equipment giant delivered incredibly positive guidance all the way out to fiscal 2028. CEO Scott Strazik on CNBC amplified the incredible near-term and long-term growth story that management outlined at Tuesday evening's investor meeting. "We have a lot of margin expansion into the next decade," Strazik told Jim Cramer in an interview on "Squawk on the Street." He added, "It's a healthy mix of price, volume, and productivity. .... We're [also] investing in robotics and AI and seeing a lot of productivity [increases]. And that's driving the expanded margins." In addition to margin expansion, Strazik emphasized the company's expectation to grow its total backlog from $135 billion to over $200 billion by the end of fiscal 2028. He said he thinks the world's biggest tech companies, which are among his customers, will be able to live up to their massive AI capital expenditure commitments. At the event Tuesday evening, Strazik said, "Our ambition is much greater than our 2028 financials." He pointed to the backlog, saying, "you can then extrapolate that out for how much more growth there is in this business into the 2030s." The marker of natural gas turbines, which are in high demand to provide additional energy to AI data centers, offered some positive updates for fiscal 2025 and set a high bar for 2026. GE Vernova said fiscal 2025 revenue is trending towards the high end of its $36 billion or $37 billion forecast. Estimates call for $37.3 billion. The company also reaffirmed fiscal 2025 adjusted EBITDA margin guidance of 8% to 9%, but issued a big hike in its free cash flow outlook to $3.5 billion to $4 billion from $3 billion to $3.5 billion. That beat estimates at the low end of the range. EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization â a key profitability metric. For fiscal 2026, GE Vernova set revenue guidance in a range of $41 billion to $42 billion as well. At the midpoint, that was slightly below estimates of $41.59 billion. The company sees adjusted EBITDA margin of 11% to 13% versus estimates. The outlook for free cash flow of $4.5 billion to $5 billion crushed estimates of $3.3 billion. But it was the outlook by 2028 numbers that really moved the stock, which soared more than 14% to all-time highs on Wednesday morning. In its long-term guidance by fiscal 2028, GE Vernova raised expectations for revenue to $52 billion from the prior guidance of $45 billion; adjusted EBITDA margin to 20% from 14%; and cumulative free cash flow from 2025 to 2028 to $22 billion-plus from the $14 billion. GEV ALL mountain GE Vernova since April 2024 spin off Jim said he was absolutely "blown away" by management's figures. "This is probably the most bullish story I have seen in years," he added. The Club stock has surged more than 350% since being spun off from GE in April 2024. This year alone, shares have more than doubled. We're raising our GE Vernova price target to $800 per share from $700, and reiterating our buy-equivalent 1 rating. However, we would not advise chasing Tuesday's move as it is not our style to step in when a stock is surging, even as we do see further upside from here. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long GEV. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

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We're raising our GE Vernova price target as shares deservedly hit all-time highs

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