Is Quanta the Biggest Winner From Data Center Power Demand?

Quanta Services, Inc. PWR is uniquely positioned to meet the explosive rise in power demand driven by data centers, advanced manufacturing and electrification. As the United States' energy landscape undergoes a fundamental transformation, the company is witnessing strong infrastructure demand. As of the third quarter of 2025, PWR’s backlog reached a record $39.2 billion, up from $33.96 billion a year ago, underscoring robust demand visibility. Remaining performance obligations rose to $21 billion.

Management highlighted that the convergence of utilities, technology companies and large-load customers, particularly data centers, is reshaping grid investment priorities. Data centers require massive, reliable and often accelerated power solutions, pushing utilities to expand transmission, substations and generation capacity. Quanta sits directly at this intersection, benefiting from its scale, self-performed craft labor and execution certainty.

Besides, a key development was the expansion of PWR’s “Total Solutions” power generation platform. Rather than focusing solely on transmission and distribution, the company is now offering integrated generation, storage and grid infrastructure solutions tailored to large-load customers. The NiSource engagement, which involves designing and constructing approximately three gigawatts of generation capacity for a major load customer, illustrates how data center-driven demand is translating into multi-year, high-value opportunities.

Quanta’s advantage lies in its ability to scale. With more than 68,000 craft-skilled workers and deep experience across transmission, substations, renewables, battery storage, and now generation, the company can deliver end-to-end solutions that few peers can match. Even though the competition remains intense, the breadth of PWR’s platform and its growing role in large-load power solutions suggest it is well-positioned to be one of the biggest long-term winners from data center-driven electricity demand.

Quanta vs. Other Market Players

Rising data center construction and the associated surge in power demand are intensifying competition for Quanta in the market with key market players like EMCOR Group, Inc. EME and MasTec, Inc. MTZ.

EMCOR plays a critical role inside the data center, delivering electrical, mechanical and HVAC systems that support power distribution, cooling and redundancy within the facility. While data center demand has been a strong margin tailwind for EMCOR, its work is more project-specific and tied to construction cycles, rather than multi-year grid buildouts. On the other hand, MasTec’s meaningful participation in power transmission, renewables and communications infrastructure offers substantial competition. However, MasTec’s portfolio is more diversified and often includes higher-risk project types, such as large renewables and pipeline work, which can introduce earnings volatility.

Notably, Quanta’s competitive advantage lies in scale, self-performed labor and its integrated “total solutions” platform. Its end-to-end capability provides greater revenue visibility and positions it as a preferred long-term partner for utilities facing sustained load growth when compared with EMCOR and MasTec.

PWR Stock’s Price Performance & Valuation Trend

Shares of this specialty contracting services provider have trended upward 34.2% in the past year, outperforming the Zacks Engineering - R and D Services industry, the broader Construction sector and the S&P 500 index.

PWR stock is currently trading at a premium compared with the industry peers, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 35.09, as evidenced by the chart below.

Earnings Estimate Revision of PWR

PWR’s earnings estimates for 2025 and 2026 have trended upward in the past 60 days. The revised estimates for 2025 and 2026 imply year-over-year growth of 18.1% and 16.9%, respectively.

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

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

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