As my grandpa used to say while watching the Cardinals (back when they were in the playoffs year after year)… “Strike while the iron’s hot”. Well, Vistra’s swinging like it’s on a 10 game hitting streak.

Late Thursday, Vistra dropped the bomb (metaphorically, of course) that it’s buying up seven natural gas facilities from Lotus Infrastructure Partners for $1.9 billion. That’s 2,600 megawatts of power generation spread across PJM, New England, New York, and California… basically, everywhere your annoying coastal cousin lives and brags about “living sustainably” while charging their Tesla with coal-powered electrons.

CEO Jim Burke called it a “critical addition,” but shareholders translated that to “we’re about to make a boatload of cash.” He doubled down on the bet that natural gas will be the grid’s MVP for “reliability, affordability, and flexibility.” In other words: when solar panels are napping and wind turbines are on strike, gas plants are still putting in overtime.

If this move feels familiar, that’s because it is. Vistra’s been on an “all-of-the-above” bender for years now… First, they acquired Dynegy in 2018, then went full nuclear with the Energy Harbor acquisition earlier this year. Now, they’re stacking gas plants like they’re playing a video game.

Now, they did post a $268 million loss last quarter… but that didn’t faze anyone because the long-term game is strong. Revenue is up, analysts are hot and bothered, and Vistra’s still handing out dividends and buybacks.

Wall Street analysts are handing Vistra friendship bracelets at this point. On TipRanks, the stock’s rated a Strong Buy with 6 Buy ratings, 2 Holds, and zero Sells. Nada. Not even one cowardly analyst hiding behind a Hold button. Targets range from $120 (yawn) to $192 (hello, yacht money), with the average sitting around $157.88.

Morgan Stanley’s David Arcaro called it a “small, opportunistic tuck-in,” which is analyst code for it won’t tank the company and might even make us look smart. BMO Capital’s James Thalacker threw a $191 price target on it and practically drew hearts around Vistra’s name in his notebook, citing the deal’s potential to juice free cash flow and feed more shareholder candy via buybacks.

So, is it a buy? Short answer: If you like strong cash flow, a diversified energy mix, and a CEO who talks like he’s already seen next year’s grid reliability report… then yes. The stock was up 3% Friday, now trading around $156, still down about 24% from its January high of $199.84. So if you’re the kind of investor who likes buying the dip with some recent strong news set to likely propel it higher… then I think it’s a good bet.

Stocks.News has positions in Vistra, Tesla, and Morgan Stanley.