Business

GE Vernova CEO highlights challenges complicating data center builds

By Peace Longe TheStreet

Updated May 31, 2026 11:07 AM

GE Vernova's CEO stepped onto one of Wall Street's most-watched stages earlier this week and delivered a message that investors weren't ready to hear.

At the 42nd Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference on May 27, the energy technology company's CEO Scott Strazik didn't offer the usual round of reassurances about data-center demand.

Instead, he acknowledged something the market had largely been brushing aside. States are pushing back against data center projects, and some customers are genuinely struggling to get those projects across the finish line.

The stock fell as much as 5% on the day before recovering to close down approximately 2.7%, Investing.com reported.

That slide continued over the following two sessions, with GEV dropping another 3.3% on May 28 and roughly 3% on May 29, bringing shares to approximately $968 by the end of the week. This is a notable pullback from the stock's 52-week high of $1,181.95.

Strazik notes tariff pressures, state pushback against data centers

Strazik's remarks at Bernstein covered two of GEV's most closely watched growth categories: data centers and wind energy.

On the data-center front, Strazik noted that opposition at the state level is intensifying.

"You're seeing more and more states that are certainly pushing back. And we do have customers that are struggling to get projects across the line," he said during the fireside chat, according to Seeking Alpha.

Data centers are enormous consumers of electricity, and companies such as GE Vernova supply the turbines, transformers, and grid equipment that power them.

When a data center project stalls at the state level, that means delayed equipment orders for GEV.

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Strazik did offer one important clarification, though.

He told attendees that when his team maps out customers' project pipelines against the equipment already secured, the company sees no risk to fulfilling its existing backlog commitments.

On wind, he was more direct about the impediments.

Tariff uncertainty is making it very difficult to convert the wind pipeline into firm orders, with the company expecting to ship 1,500 wind turbines in 2026, while acknowledging that fresh order flow will remain frozen until tariff clarity arrives in the U.S.

GE Vernova CEO Scott Strazik's cautious remarks on data-center progress triggered a multi-day selloff in GEV shares.

SOPA Images / Getty Images

GEV's chart after Bernstein: what changed

Before Strazik's conference appearance, GEV shares had been riding one of the strongest runs in the entire S&P 500.

Year-to-date through May 29, Yahoo Finance data shows GEV had returned approximately 48%, compared to the S&P 500's roughly 11% gain over the same period. The stock had nearly doubled from its 52-week low of $458.65.

Then came two converging pressures:

First, Strazik's cautious remarks.

Second, a bearish analyst report released on May 28, according to TradingKey, which argued that GEV's current valuation reflects "hyper-growth" expectations tied to AI-related energy demand that may be unrealistic given physical constraints in the core business.

Here's a snapshot of the shift in GEV's trajectory.

GEV vs. S&P 500: recent performance

1-week (ending May 29): GEV down approximately 8.5%, S&P 500 roughly flat
Year-to-date: GEV up approximately 48%, S&P 500 up approximately 11%
1-year: GEV up approximately 100%, S&P 500 up approximately 28%
Since IPO (April 2024): GEV up approximately 742%, S&P 500 up approximately 80%

Source: Alpha Spread

There's a heavy contrast between the one-week drop and the longer GEV price performance.

Investors who have held GEV for a year or more are sitting on enormous gains, but those who bought into the post-earnings euphoria in late April or early May may be feeling the pinch.

What GEV bulls and bears are saying right now

The pullback has not convinced most analysts to give up on the stock.

Goldman Sachs raised its price target on GEV to $1,328 from $1,000 in late April, maintaining a buy rating, according to TipRanks.
Jefferies went further, lifting its target to $1,350 from $965, also with a buy rating.
Baird set its target at $1,400.
Wells Fargo reiterated a buy equivalent rating on May 28, the day after Strazik's comments.

According to S&P Global data via Stock Analysis, 35 analysts covering GEV carry a consensus buy rating, with an average 12-month price target of approximately $1,217, implying more than 25% upside from current levels.

The bear case, however, is an argument beyond Strazik's comments at Bernstein.

In late April, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded GEV to neutral from buy, Gurufocus reported, citing the fact that approximately 90% of GEV's gas turbine capacity is already contracted through 2030.

That is an unusual constraint for a growth story.

The turbines are spoken for, so fresh order flow above current guidance is hard to imagine in the near term. The firm set a neutral price target of $1,190.

The core tension here is real.

GEV's first quarter of 2026 earnings were extraordinary. EPS of $17.44 beat consensus estimates of $1.95 by roughly 790%, as MarketBeat reported. Revenue hit $9.34 billion on 17% year-over-year growth, and the total backlog expanded to $150 billion.

Yet capacity constraints and regulatory friction are now putting real limits on how much growth can actually accelerate from here.

Why state resistance to data centers matters for GEV investors

GEV generates roughly 25% of the world's electricity every day and approximately 50% of U.S. electricity, according to GE Vernova's own investor materials.

That makes data center electrification one of the company's most direct revenue opportunities.

AI data centers require enormous and continuous power. A single large-scale data center can consume as much electricity as a small city.

GEV supplies the gas turbines, grid solutions, and electrification equipment that connect those facilities to the grid.

When a data center is delayed or blocked, GEV loses an order window that it may not easily recapture.

Global power demand is projected to grow at a 3.6% compound annual growth rate between 2026 and 2030, roughly 50% faster than the prior decade, according to JPMorgan estimates.

That long-run tailwind is intact.

But Strazik's point was that the near-term conversion of that pipeline into actual signed orders faces political friction that the market hadn't fully priced in.

The wind segment compounds the concern.

Tariff uncertainty has effectively frozen fresh onshore wind orders in the U.S., even as GEV maintains its 1,500-turbine shipment guidance for 2026.

Tariffs raise the cost of components, making project economics harder to pencil, especially for developers who locked in power purchase agreements before the tariff environment changed.

For GEV's bullish thesis to hold, investors will want to see:

State-level permitting decisions move in favor of data center projects, reducing the conversion gap Strazik described.
Tariff clarity in the U.S. wind market, allowing GEV's large wind pipeline to convert into orders.
Continued margin expansion in the Power and Electrification segments, which have been the primary earnings drivers.
No meaningful slippage in the $150 billion backlog, which currently represents GEV's strongest forward visibility.

What this means for investors sitting on GEV today

GEV is not a company in trouble.

The $150 billion backlog, the 790% first quarter EPS beat, and the raised 2026 revenue guidance of $44.5 billion to $45.5 billion all confirm that the business is executing well.

The question the market is asking after Bernstein is whether the stock has run too far ahead of what the business can realistically deliver in the near term.

Insider selling has also drawn attention.

According to Simply Wall St, insiders have been net sellers totaling approximately $8.7 million more in disposals than purchases over the past 12 months, including a notable single transaction in May.

Insider selling does not necessarily signal a problem, but it is a data point worth tracking alongside analyst sentiment.

The stock's current price near $968 sits well below the Wall Street consensus target of approximately $1,217, which means the majority view on the Street remains that GEV offers meaningful upside from here.

But the path to that upside runs through both data center permitting resolutions and a wind market that needs Washington to provide clarity on tariffs before it thaws.

For long-term holders, the core thesis, which is GEV as the critical infrastructure layer of the AI power buildout, remains supported by its backlog and order momentum.

For investorsconsidering a fresh entry, Strazik's Bernstein remarks are a reminder that even the strongest industrial stories carry execution risk, and the market is now pricing that risk more carefully.

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This story was originally published May 31, 2026 at 10:47 AM.