2025 will go down as a year to remember for many publicly held electrical manufacturers, distributors and contractors. A perfect storm of a buoyant and resilient economy, the historic growth of the data center market and investments in electric grid expansion and other areas of the electrification segment combined to push many electrical stocks to double or triple the return of all major indexes. The NASDAQ Composite came in with a 2025 annual return of approximately +21%; the S&P 500 Index topped +17%; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the year with a +14% return.
The fact that so many electrical manufacturers, distributors and contractors were perfectly positioned to enjoy AI-fueled investments in data centers and the utility-scale projects to power them up certainly contributed to returns topping +30%. Some companies like Comfort Systems USA (+119.27%); MasTec (+55.88%); and Vertiv (+38.41%) play in both the electrical and HVAC market, and got a bit of a double-dip in growth, because the demand for cooling system installations in data centers appears to be every bit as big as the demand by these facilities for electric power systems.
Contractor stocks
With a group return of +34% return, contractor stocks had the best year. Along with Comfort Systems and MasTec, IES Holdings was up +87.39% and Quanta and EMCOR were both up +38%.
Electric manufacturers
As a group, electrical manufacturers had a solid year. Electrical Marketing’s category for these companies produced a combined average increase of nearly +30%. With 2025 returns of 30% or better, Dialight (+234.9%), GE Vernova (+94.3%); nVent (+50.3%) Nucor (+42.6%); Rockwell Automation (+39.2%); ABB (+38.7%); Vertiv (+38.4%); Legrand (+35.8%); and Freeport-McMoRan (+34.8%) certainly pulled that average up. Freeport McMoRan, one of the world’s largest copper miners was the beneficiary of a +41% run-up in copper prices during 2025.
It’s interesting to note the dispersion in prices of some of the largest electrical conglomerates. Rockwell Automation (+39.2%) and ABB (+38.7%) led suppliers of switchgear, distribution equipment and industrial control systems, while Schneider Electric (-2.8%) and Eaton (-3.7%) were down for the year.
Electrical distributors
WESCO and Rexel led distributor share returns with increases of 38% in 2025. W.W. Grainger, normally a stellar performer, was actually down -2.5% for the year, and another consistent performer, Fastenal, came in with a roughly +14% gain, which is solid, but lagged all of the major indexes.
It’s impossible to predict how the share prices of electrical stocks will fare in 2026. But if the electrification trends stays intact and data center demand for electrical equipment continues this year at anything near its pace in 2025, don’t be surprised if it’s another year of double-digit increases for the stocks of many publicly held electrical manufacturers, distributors and contractors.
