Contractor & Data Center Stocks Prosper Despite Volatile 1Q 2026 Investment Climate
Wall Street has gotten off to a pretty wild start in 2026 because of concerns over the war in Iran and tariffs, uncertainty over the U.S. economy’s health and a comparatively small but growing bearish take that stock prices are overheated and it’s time to take profits.
Despite this investment climate, the stocks of several publicly held contractors and manufacturers tied into data centers and power production did quite well. Of the 40-plus publicly owned electrical manufacturers, distributors and contractors that EM tracks (see chart on page 2), Vertiv Holdings Co. (+61%); MasTec (+54.3%); Comfort Systems USA (+53.8%); Generac (+46.1%); Littelfuse (+38.9%); GE Vernova (+37.2%); and Quanta Services (+32.6%) are enjoying the most impressive year-to-date gains.
Companies with a diverse package of products and services that include electrical work as well as HVAC and power capabilities seemed to show the most growth. Vertiv Holdings provides data centers with a mix of HVAC and electrical products, including AC/DC UPS systems, cooling units, battery storage systems and rack power distribution units (rPDUs). Posts at www.constructiondive.com and www.seeking alpha.com said that in 2024 Mastec had completed $150 million in data center infrastructure work had another $200 million in backlog in 2024 and 2025 and was going to bid on $1 billion worth of data center projects.
A group of well-known electrical manufacturers that over the past few years had outpaced other electrical companies and the major market indices, didn’t fare as a well in 1Q 2026 on a year-to-date stock price performance basis. Falling below the S&P’s -4.2% YTD performance mark were Acuity (-20.6%); Dialight (-20.6%); Siemens and Signify (both -10.6%); Rockwell Automation (-5.8%); Nexans (-5.6%); and Atkore (-5.4%).
About the Author
Jim Lucy
Editor-in-Chief
Over the past 40-plus years, hundreds of Jim’s articles have been published in Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing newsletter on topics such as the impact of new competitors on the electrical market’s channels of distribution, energy-efficient lighting and renewables, and local market economics. In addition to his published work, Jim regularly gives presentations on these topics to C-suite executives, industry groups and investment analysts.
He launched a new subscription-based data product for Electrical Marketing that offers electrical sales potential estimates and related market data for more than 300 metropolitan areas, and in 1999 he published his first book, “The Electrical Marketer’s Survival Guide” for electrical industry executives looking for an overview of key market trends.
While managing Electrical Wholesaling’s editorial operations, Jim and the publication’s staff won several Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence, the highest honor in the business press, and numerous national and regional awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He has a master’s degree in Communications and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J. (now Rowan University).