Artificial intelligence may be making more headlines in the financial media than in the technology press – and for good reason.
Take natural gas stocks, which are capturing the attention of big whale investors primarily because of AI-fueled demand from power technology data centers, where natural gas, the cleanest of all fossil fuels, is expected to play a significant role.
That could mean big business for natural gas players, who have already pushed the S&P GSCI Natural Gas Index up 54% over the past year.
Growth has slowed somewhat in 2025 due to lower European Union imports, tepid growth in the liquified natural gas (LNG) sector and storage injection issues in the EU and Asia. Still, the AI infusion is expected to ignite a surge in the natural gas sector in the second half of 2025, particularly in 2026.
Get Access To The Leaderboards That Reveal Tomorrow's Top Stocks
Updated daily, Benzinga's Top Stock Leaderboards highlight our best buys right now. Spot breakout opportunities before the crowd catches on—without the noise. Get access now and start using the same research trusted by hedge funds, analysts, and serious traders. Get started HERE.
"The rapid growth of AI and the construction of new AI-driven data centers are dramatically increasing electricity demand," said Christian Harris, financial analyst at the UK-based Investing.co, which is a trading and investment tutorial platform. "The IEA projects electricity demand from data centers to more than double by 2030, with renewable and natural gas leading the new capacity mix due to their cost and dispatchability."
The link to natural gas stems from data centers being energy-intensive and needing around-the-clock, reliable power. "That's something natural gas provides exceptionally well, given its ability to ramp up quickly and supply steady power," Harris said.
While renewables and nuclear energy are on the rise, natural gas remains the immediate go-to, as it's more readily available and scalable. Harris expects this trend to continue for the next several years, "with natural gas prices seeing moderate upward pressure as a result, particularly in the U.S., where infrastructure is strong."
Three Natural Gas Stocks For The AI Revolution
With the rising demand for energy resources like natural gas in data centers, which sector is likely to gain the most significant benefits? Here's a short list.
GE Vernova
GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV) stands out for its leadership in natural gas power infrastructure, which is essential for data centers. Vernova shares are already outperforming (up 98% year-to-date). The stock is priced at a hefty $652, but with plenty of room for growth.
A case in point: the energy transition company reported second-quarter earnings per share of $1.86, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69. Revenue came in at $9.11 billion, exceeding Wall Street's expectations of $8.78 billion, Benzinga reported.
“We had a productive second quarter, positioning us well to accelerate growth and margin expansion,” said CEO Scott Strazik. “We grew our backlog by more than $5 billion and increased Gas Power slot reservation agreements from 50 to 55 gigawatts.”
Analysts are bullish on the stock for the long haul, with Baird analyst Ben Kallo recently issuing an Outperform rating while raising the price target from $568 to $706. Meanwhile, Susquehanna analyst Charles Minervino maintained the stock with a Positive rating and hiked the price target from $662 to $736.
EQT Corp.
Rob Thummel, managing director and senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital, calls the Pittsburgh-based EQT Corp. (NYSE:EQT) one of the lowest-cost producers of natural gas in the U.S. He says the company has a great management team that has positioned it for future growth.
"Last week, EQT announced an agreement to supply natural gas to the largest natural gas-powered data center campus in Homer City, Pa.," Thummel said. "Ironically, the Homer City data campus in Pennsylvania used to be a coal-fired power plant that is being redeveloped into a natural gas-powered data center campus."
The stock is up 16% year-to-date, while both JP Morgan and Wells Fargo have recently issued Buy calls on EQT shares. Morgan Stanley made the same call, with a $69 price target. The stock is currently trading at $53 per share.
EQT is also seeing some significant whale activity, with Stanley Druckenmiller‘s Duquesne Family Office LLC recently taking a new position in the stock, Benzinga reported.
Williams Companies
Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams Companies (NYSE:WMB) operates one of the largest natural gas pipeline infrastructure networks in the U.S.
"Pipelines operate with large economic moats," Thummel said. “WMB is no different, offering investors an above-average dividend yield of 3.5% with dividend growth expectations of 6%-plus."
Williams’ cash flows should also rise as its fee-based pipelines will benefit from higher natural gas volumes.
"Additionally, Williams is building natural gas-powered generation infrastructure to support a data center campus in New Albany, Ohio, Thummel noted. "This electricity generation facility is behind the meter, meaning that it's not connected to the electrical grid; instead, it supplies all electricity generated directly to the data center campus."
Williams has outperformed the market over the past 5 years by 10.98% on an annualized basis, producing an average annual return of 25.21%, as reported by Benzinga.
Photo: Shutterstock
