AES Corp (AES) saw its stock surge 9.59% in pre-market trading on Friday, driven by better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and an optimistic outlook for 2025. The utility company reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.54 for Q4 2024, surpassing analysts' consensus estimate of $0.34. This robust performance was fueled by higher contributions from renewable projects placed in service during the year, as well as rate base growth at its U.S. utilities and normalized operations in Colombia and Mexico.

For the full year 2025, AES issued upbeat guidance, initiating an adjusted EBITDA range of $2.65 billion to $2.85 billion. This outlook reflects expected growth from new renewable projects, rate base growth at its U.S. utilities, and continued normalization of operations in Colombia and Mexico. The company also initiated its 2025 adjusted EPS guidance in the range of $2.10 to $2.26, reaffirming its annualized growth targets of 5% to 7% for adjusted EBITDA through 2027 and 7% to 9% for adjusted EPS through 2027.

AES Corp's strong performance and upbeat outlook stem from its strategic focus on expanding its renewable energy portfolio and leveraging the growing demand from data centers and manufacturing plants in the U.S. CEO Andrés Gluski highlighted the company's well-positioned to meet this demand, stating, "We see strong demand from the growing needs of AI data centers and new manufacturing plants in the US, and we are well-placed to meet their demand for the shortest time to power."