Behind-the-meter power stocks are selling off sharply Tuesday, with FTAI Aviation (NASDAQ: FTAI), GE Vernova (NYSE: GEV), and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) all posting significant losses at midday.
FTAI Aviation is down 6%, GE Vernova is off 6%, and Caterpillar is lower by 5%, with the pain spreading broadly across the entire behind-the-meter group.
The selloff is not driven by company-specific news but by a coordinated de-risking move out of AI-levered industrials following a Wall Street Journal analysis of hyperscaler power commitments.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “nine top tech companies had some $3 trillion of off-balance-sheet commitments mostly related to AI, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of footnotes in their most recent securities filings.”
The report further noted those obligations are “growing faster than traditional capex, which totaled about $600 billion over the past year they reported, and were about triple what the companies owe under their outstanding leases and long-term borrowings.”
Weekend disclosures from leading AI model developers also underwhelmed investors, with Anthropic reporting annualized revenue of $65 billion at the end of July, while OpenAI said its ARR recently hit $40 billion.
Both figures came in softer than the more aggressive estimates circulating in venture capital circles, adding to the broader uncertainty weighing on AI infrastructure plays.
Treasury markets piled additional pressure onto the sector, with the 30-year yield hitting a 19-year high Tuesday and the 10-year sitting at 4.68%, compressing the present value of long-duration behind-the-meter backlogs.
Despite the market turbulence, the underlying fundamentals for these companies remain strong, with GE Vernova exiting Q2 with a $176 billion backlog and signing 20 gigawatts of new gas orders during the quarter.
GE Vernova also raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $45.5 billion and $46.5 billion, signaling continued confidence in demand from data center and AI infrastructure customers.
Caterpillar posted its first-ever $20 billion quarter, with Power Generation growth of 72% driven by data center demand and a total backlog of $72 billion heading into the second half.
Caterpillar CEO Joe Creed said “no one is slowing down at the moment. You know, in fact, if we can get more units out, they’re asking us to give them more units.”
FTAI Aviation, the session’s biggest large-cap decliner, trades at a trailing price-to-earnings multiple of 47x with a consensus analyst price target of $364 per share.
FTAI had entered Tuesday’s session up 6% on the week and 16% year to date, giving investors ample incentive to lock in gains amid the broader macro-driven selloff.
The damage extended well beyond the three largest names, with Solaris Energy Infrastructure (NYSE: SEI) falling 4%, Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) dropping 10%, and Vertiv sliding 7% on the session.
Bloom Energy had been the group’s standout performer with a year-to-date gain of 167% entering Tuesday, making it particularly vulnerable to profit-taking when sentiment shifted.
When markets begin questioning the durability of hyperscaler capital expenditure commitments, turbine makers, engine suppliers, fuel cells, mobile gensets, and power infrastructure names all trade as a single basket regardless of individual backlog quality.
Rotation flows on the day are favoring healthcare, consumer defensives, utilities, and energy, while technology is leading to the downside across major indices.
