Howmet Aerospace and GE Vernova Stocks Are Up Big in 2026, Extending Massive Rallies

Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM) and GE Vernova (NYSE:GEV) are two of the market’s most compelling stories heading into spring 2026. Both stocks are extending multi-year rallies that most investors would have called impossible just a few years ago, and both are doing it for the same underlying reason: the world desperately needs more power, and these two companies are at the center of building it.

As of this morning, HWM stock traded near $254 and GEV hovered around $845, with both holding strong in a choppy tape. The stories behind these moves go much deeper than a single earnings beat.

Howmet Aerospace: Manufacturing Meets the Data Center Boom

Howmet Aerospace makes the precision-engineered components that go inside jet engines, airframes, and increasingly, industrial gas turbines. Think of the company as the supplier of the most critical, hardest-to-replace parts in the most complex machines humans build. That position has become remarkably valuable.

HWM stock is up 24.58% year-to-date in 2026, having started the year at $204.91. That follows a one-year gain of 109.22% and a staggering five-year return of 718.55%. Mad Money host Jim Cramer captured the sentiment well when he called HWM “just in the sweet spot” and noted it has “no quit in it.”

The Q4 2025 earnings report, released in February, validated that view. Howmet Aerospace posted EPS of $1.05 against an expected $0.965, a clean beat. Revenue grew 14.7% year-over-year, and the Engine Products segment delivered gas turbine revenue growth of 32% in Q4. CEO John Plant was direct about what is driving that surge: “Gas turbines business is entering its largest growth phase in years, with extremely high demand for electricity generation, especially from natural gas for data centers.”

That quote connects two worlds most investors keep separate: aerospace manufacturing and AI infrastructure. Howmet Aerospace’s engine components go into the same class of gas turbines that are being ordered at record rates to power hyperscale data centers.

For full-year 2025, free cash flow came in at $1.43 billion, up 46.47% year-over-year. The company also announced a $1.8 billion acquisition of Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing and raised its dividend 20% to $0.12 per share for Q1 2026.

Analysts took notice. Truist raised its price target to $258 from $225 in January, maintaining a Buy rating. Citigroup lifted its target to $255 from $246, also reiterating a Buy. The consensus from 22 brokerages sits at a “Moderate Buy” with an average 12-month price target of $252.95.

GE Vernova: The Direct AI Power Play

If Howmet Aerospace is an indirect beneficiary of the data center buildout, GE Vernova is a direct one. The company makes the heavy-duty gas turbines, grid equipment, and electrification infrastructure that hyperscalers are scrambling to secure. Barron’s called GE Vernova a “surprising AI winner for 2026” back in January, and the stock has continued to prove that thesis correct.

GEV is up 29.15% year-to-date in 2026, starting the year at $653.09. The one-year return stands at 212.99%, meaning the stock has more than tripled in twelve months. The scale of the demand driving this is hard to overstate. As we covered in our discussion on $1.4 Trillion Needed for AI Data Center Electrification by 2030, Chief Investment Officer, the buildout required to power the AI economy is unlike anything the grid has seen before.

GE Vernova’s Q4 2025 results crystallized just how much of that demand is landing in its order book. Revenue came in at $11 billion, beating consensus estimates of $10.19 billion by roughly 8%. Total orders hit $22.2 billion in Q4 alone, up 65% organically, pushing the total backlog to a record $150 billion. CEO Scott Strazik framed it succinctly, stating, “We increased our backlog to $150 billion, with better equipment margins, and are entering 2026 with significant momentum.”

The gas power numbers are where the AI connection becomes undeniable. GE Vernova booked 41 heavy-duty gas turbines in Q4, with the gas power equipment backlog growing from 62 gigawatts to 83 gigawatts sequentially. Strazik added on the earnings call: “We continue to see very strong new gas contracts with an incremental 6 gigawatts signed in the last 3 weeks of December, for a total of 24 gigawatts of new contracts in Q4 2025 alone.”

GE Vernova signed over $2 billion of Electrification orders directly for data centers in 2025, more than triple the 2024 total. For 2026, the company raised its revenue guidance to $44 to $45 billion and free cash flow guidance to $5 to $5.5 billion. Analysts responded: Citigroup raised its GEV share-price target to $708 from $658 in January, and the consensus target has since climbed to $805.25 as of early March.

The Shared Thesis: Picks and Shovels for the AI Era

What unites Howmet Aerospace and GE Vernova is a theme that is still being underappreciated by many investors: the AI buildout is fundamentally an energy and infrastructure story before it is a software story. Every large language model, GPU cluster, and hyperscale campus needs reliable, always-on power. That power increasingly comes from natural gas turbines, and the components inside those turbines come from companies like Howmet Aerospace, while the turbines themselves and the grid infrastructure connecting them come from companies like GE Vernova.

Both stocks have already had enormous runs. Some analysts flag HWM stock as trading at a premium, with a P/E ratio in the 55x to 68x range and one DCF analysis placing it 37% above estimated intrinsic value. Meanwhile, GEV faces its own headwinds, including an expected $400 million in Wind segment EBITDA losses in 2026. These are real risks worth weighing carefully before making any decisions.

Still, the underlying demand driving both companies isn’t a one-quarter story. It’s a multi-year infrastructure cycle, and both Howmet Aerospace and GE Vernova are positioned at the center of it. Today’s trading levels reflect that reality, and the order books suggest the market may still be catching up.