U.S. electricity demand is about to accelerate dramatically. After growing at just 0.5% annually over the past decade, the Bank of America Institute projects demand will surge at 2.5% annually through 2035—five times the historical rate. This inflection isn’t speculation; it’s already happening as AI data centers, manufacturing reshoring, and grid electrification collide to create unprecedented power requirements.
Energy security has become a national priority. The U.S. can’t afford brownouts disrupting data centers running critical AI infrastructure or factories producing essential goods. This imperative is driving massive investments across the energy infrastructure landscape, from power generation to natural gas pipelines.
Four companies are positioned to capitalize on this structural demand shift. Each offers different exposure points within the energy value chain, from equipment manufacturing to natural gas production to pipeline infrastructure. Together, they represent a diversified approach to investing in what could be the defining energy buildout of the next generation.
GE Vernova Inc. (GEV)
Market Cap: $179 billion | Currently trading around $659
GE Vernova emerged from General Electric’s 2024 spin-off as an independent energy technology company providing equipment and services that support electrical systems worldwide. The company’s installed base generates over one-quarter of the world’s electricity through gas turbines, steam turbines, wind turbines, and grid infrastructure.
This massive installed base creates two revenue streams: initial equipment sales and ongoing maintenance contracts. The maintenance business provides recurring revenue as utilities and power generators require regular servicing of complex turbine systems. As equipment ages, modernization projects add another layer of predictable income.
GE Vernova’s gas turbines have become essential for AI data center buildout. Hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google face a critical challenge: expanding electrical capacity quickly enough to support new computing infrastructure. Traditional grid expansion takes years of permitting, construction, and interconnection. GE Vernova’s gas turbines can be installed in months, providing rapid energy deployment that matches the urgency of AI infrastructure timelines.
The company’s backlog tells the growth story. As of late 2025, GE Vernova holds $135 billion in backlog and expects that figure could reach $200 billion by 2028. In the gas turbine segment alone, signed orders and slot reservations approach 70 gigawatts—representing years of future revenue locked in today.
This backlog visibility provides unusual certainty for investors. Unlike companies dependent on quarterly order flows, GE Vernova has multi-year revenue visibility from contracts already signed. The company’s challenge isn’t finding customers—it’s scaling production fast enough to meet demand.
The gas turbine focus positions GE Vernova to benefit from natural gas’s role as a bridge fuel. While renewable energy capacity expands, natural gas provides the reliable baseload power that solar and wind cannot deliver consistently. Data centers requiring 24/7 uptime depend on this reliability, creating sustained demand for efficient gas turbines.
GE Vernova also benefits from grid modernization investments. As utilities upgrade aging infrastructure to handle bidirectional power flows from distributed solar and improve resilience against extreme weather, GE Vernova’s grid equipment becomes essential. The combination of new generation capacity and grid upgrades creates multiple growth vectors within a single company.
The stock’s rapid appreciation from the spin-off reflects market recognition of these opportunities. At current levels around $659, GE Vernova trades at a premium valuation that assumes successful execution on its massive backlog. But for investors believing in sustained energy infrastructure investment, the company offers pure-play exposure to electricity demand growth.
ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM)
Market Cap: $510 billion | Currently trading around $120 | Dividend Yield: 3.3%
ExxonMobil represents the integrated oil and gas model at its largest scale. The company operates across both upstream (exploration and production) and downstream (refining and chemicals) segments, creating natural hedges against commodity price volatility. When crude prices surge, upstream profits rise while downstream margins compress. When crude weakens, the dynamic reverses.
This integrated structure provides earnings stability that pure-play exploration companies lack. Exxon generates cash flow across commodity cycles, supporting the 3.3% dividend through market volatility that forces smaller competitors to cut payouts.
But the real opportunity over the next decade comes from natural gas, not oil. Exxon has been strategically positioning its portfolio toward natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports, recognizing that gas will play a critical role meeting growing electricity demand while serving as a bridge fuel during the energy transition.
The company’s recent acquisition strategy reflects this focus. Exxon has invested heavily in LNG export infrastructure and secured natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin and other key formations. As U.S. LNG export capacity expands, Exxon’s integrated position from wellhead to export terminal creates competitive advantages in capturing margin across the value chain.
Global LNG demand is accelerating as countries seek to replace coal-fired power generation with cleaner-burning natural gas. Europe’s energy security concerns following geopolitical disruptions have increased demand for U.S. LNG exports. Asian nations continue building gas-fired power plants to reduce air pollution from coal. These secular trends support multi-decade demand growth for LNG exports.
Exxon’s diversified asset base includes world-class resources in Guyana, where the company has discovered over 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The Permian Basin operations provide low-cost production that generates cash flow even during weak price environments. This geographic and geological diversification reduces dependence on any single basin or country.
The 3.3% dividend yield provides income while investors wait for natural gas investments to reach full potential. Exxon has maintained its dividend through multiple energy downturns, demonstrating commitment to shareholder returns even during challenging market conditions. The company’s strong balance sheet and diversified cash flows support dividend sustainability regardless of near-term commodity price movements.
For investors seeking energy exposure with income and moderate risk, ExxonMobil offers a combination of integrated operations, natural gas growth positioning, and dividend reliability that’s difficult to replicate elsewhere in the sector.
EQT Corporation (EQT)
Market Cap: ~$22 billion | Currently trading around $53
EQT operates as one of the largest natural gas producers in the United States, focusing on the Marcellus and Utica shale formations in the Appalachian Basin. These formations contain some of the lowest-cost natural gas resources in North America, providing EQT with competitive advantages as natural gas demand accelerates.
The company’s business model is straightforward: extract natural gas from these prolific formations and sell it to utilities, power plants, LNG exporters, and industrial users. This focused strategy avoids the complexity of integrated oil and gas models while providing pure-play exposure to natural gas price dynamics.
Natural gas demand faces a perfect storm of positive catalysts. Domestic electricity generation is shifting toward gas as coal plants retire and renewable capacity requires backup power sources. Data centers need reliable baseload power that natural gas provides. Industrial facilities require natural gas both for electricity and as a chemical feedstock. Each demand source is growing independently, creating compounding effects on total consumption.
International markets add another growth layer. U.S. LNG exports reached 11.9 billion cubic feet per day in 2024, making the United States the world’s largest LNG exporter. Export terminal capacity continues expanding, with multiple projects under construction that will increase demand for domestic natural gas production.
Europe’s push to replace Russian gas with U.S. LNG has created structural demand that should persist for years. Asian countries replacing coal with natural gas for environmental and health reasons provide another sustained growth market. These international dynamics support premium pricing for U.S. natural gas that can reach export markets.
EQT’s position in the Appalachian Basin offers logistical advantages for LNG exports. The company’s production sits relatively close to East Coast export terminals, reducing transportation costs and improving economics compared to production from distant basins. As export capacity expands, this geographic positioning should provide EQT with preferential access to growing international markets.
The company has also invested in midstream infrastructure to transport its production to market, reducing dependence on third-party pipelines that can create bottlenecks during high-demand periods. This vertical integration improves margin capture while ensuring reliable market access.
Natural gas prices remain volatile, creating earnings uncertainty that affects stock price performance. EQT’s fortunes rise and fall with commodity prices in ways that integrated companies like ExxonMobil can partially hedge. But for investors believing natural gas demand growth will tighten supply-demand balances and support higher prices, EQT offers leveraged exposure to that thesis.
The company’s low-cost production base provides downside protection. Even during weak price environments, EQT can generate positive cash flow from its best acreage. This operational flexibility allows the company to maintain production during downturns while competitors with higher costs must curtail output.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD)
Market Cap: ~$67 billion | Currently trading around $31 | Dividend Yield: 6.8%
Enterprise Products Partners operates over 50,000 miles of pipelines alongside storage, processing, and export terminal facilities. As a midstream operator, the company generates revenue based on the volume of products transported rather than commodity prices, creating more predictable cash flows than exploration and production companies.
This fee-based business model provides crucial stability. Whether natural gas sells for $2 or $6 per MMBtu, Enterprise collects transportation fees based on volume moved through its systems. As long as production continues and demand remains healthy, Enterprise generates consistent income regardless of price volatility.
The company’s master limited partnership (MLP) structure requires distributing most income to unitholders, resulting in the attractive 6.8% yield. This structure appeals to income-focused investors seeking energy sector exposure without commodity price risk. Enterprise has increased distributions for 26 consecutive years, demonstrating remarkable consistency through multiple energy cycles.
Enterprise’s growth strategy focuses on expanding infrastructure to support natural gas demand growth. The company has over $5.1 billion in capital projects under construction, including new processing plants and export terminals. These investments position Enterprise to capture volume growth as U.S. natural gas production and LNG exports continue expanding.
The natural gas infrastructure build-out creates multi-year visibility for growth capital deployment. As production grows in key basins and export capacity expands, the natural gas must flow through midstream infrastructure to reach end markets. Enterprise’s extensive existing network and strategic new investments position it to capture disproportionate share of this volume growth.
The company’s integrated asset base provides competitive advantages. Enterprise doesn’t just transport natural gas—it processes, fractionates, stores, and exports it. This vertical integration allows the company to capture margin across multiple steps in the value chain while offering customers one-stop solutions for getting products to market.
Enterprise’s investment-grade credit rating and strong balance sheet enable continued infrastructure investment while maintaining the distribution. The company generates substantial free cash flow after funding both growth projects and distributions, providing financial flexibility during industry downturns.
The 6.8% yield significantly exceeds typical utility dividends while offering exposure to natural gas volume growth rather than just steady-state infrastructure assets. For income investors seeking higher yields with growth potential, Enterprise Products Partners offers compelling risk-adjusted returns.
The MLP structure creates tax complexity that some investors prefer to avoid, but the yield and growth profile compensate for the additional tax reporting requirements. Investors should consult tax professionals about the implications of owning MLPs in taxable versus tax-advantaged accounts.
The Energy Infrastructure Thesis
These four stocks offer diversified exposure across the energy infrastructure value chain. GE Vernova provides equipment for power generation. ExxonMobil combines integrated oil and gas operations with strategic natural gas positioning. EQT delivers pure-play natural gas production exposure. Enterprise Products Partners captures volume growth through midstream infrastructure.
The common thread is positioning ahead of accelerating energy demand growth. The 2.5% projected annual increase in U.S. electricity consumption represents five times historical growth rates—a structural shift rather than cyclical uptick. This demand surge requires massive infrastructure investment across generation, production, and transportation.
Natural gas emerges as a key beneficiary across all four companies. GE Vernova sells gas turbines. ExxonMobil is pivoting toward LNG exports. EQT produces natural gas from low-cost formations. Enterprise transports and exports it. This natural gas focus reflects the fuel’s unique position as both a reliable power source and a bridge fuel during energy transition.
For investors building long-term energy exposure, these four stocks provide complementary positioning. Equipment manufacturing (GE Vernova), integrated operations (ExxonMobil), pure-play production (EQT), and fee-based infrastructure (Enterprise) each play different roles in the energy ecosystem. Owning all four creates portfolio diversification while maintaining concentrated exposure to the energy demand growth thesis.
The combination of income (ExxonMobil and Enterprise yield over 3%) and growth (GE Vernova’s expanding backlog, EQT’s production potential) provides both current return and capital appreciation potential. For investors seeking energy exposure they can hold through market cycles, these four companies offer the operational quality and strategic positioning to compound wealth over the next decade.
