$160.86. That was the closing bell for Generac Holdings (GNRC) on Friday, January 16, 2026. If you’ve been tracking this ticker for more than a week, you know it’s been a bit of a ride lately. Honestly, trying to pin down the "right" value for this company has become a favorite pastime for analysts, and nobody seems to agree.
The stock dipped about 0.35% on Friday. Small potatoes. But zoom out and you see a company trying to shed its skin. For years, Generac was just "the generator company." When a hurricane hit, the stock went up. When the weather was calm, it drifted.
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But 2026 is looking different.
The $300 Million Data Center Elephant in the Room
Generac is currently obsessed with data centers. You've probably heard about the AI boom until you're blue in the face, but for GNRC, it’s actually starting to show up in the ledger.
Just this month, on January 5, 2026, the company announced it bought a massive manufacturing facility in Sussex, Wisconsin. Why? To build large-megawatt generators. They aren't for your backyard. They are for the massive, power-hungry warehouses running the world’s AI models.
BofA Securities recently pointed out that Generac’s data center backlog doubled to roughly $300 million in just 90 days. That is wild. It suggests that the company is successfully pivoting from being a weather-dependent residential play to a structural infrastructure play.
Why the Market is Still Nervous
Despite the data center hype, the stock is still wrestling with its old identity. Residential sales—the stuff you and I buy—took a hit toward the end of 2025. In the third quarter of 2025, residential product sales dropped by about 13%.
Why? It turns out that when there aren't many power outages, people don't buy generators. Go figure.
Investors are currently split into two camps:
- The Bulls: They see the Sussex expansion and the data center backlog as a "generational opportunity." They think the current price is a steal because the market hasn't fully priced in the shift to Commercial & Industrial (C&I) sales.
- The Bears: They point to the fact that home standby sales are flat. They worry that if the "clean energy" segment (like the ecobee thermostats and PWRcell batteries) doesn't start printing more money soon, the high P/E ratio—currently sitting around 30.6—is too rich.
By the Numbers: GNRC’s Current Standing
If you're looking at the raw data for GNRC stock price today, here is the snapshot from the most recent trading session:
- Last Price: $160.86
- 52-Week High: $203.25
- 52-Week Low: $99.50
- Market Cap: $9.44 Billion
- P/E Ratio: 30.6
It’s a volatile stock. It has a beta of 1.83, which basically means it moves like a caffeinated squirrel compared to the broader S&P 500. If the market sneezes, GNRC catches a cold. But when it runs, it really runs.
The Analyst Tug-of-War
Analysts are all over the place. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan recently upgraded the stock, citing that data center pivot. JPMorgan kept a target of $200, which is a pretty decent upside from where we are now.
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On the flip side, Zacks currently has it as a "Sell" (Rank 4). They aren't convinced the earnings growth justifies the price yet. They're looking at the "VGM" score—value, growth, and momentum—and giving it a "C." Sorta middle of the road.
Basically, the "pros" are guessing just as much as the rest of us, though they have better spreadsheets. The consensus seems to be that if Generac can prove the C&I segment is sustainable, the stock could hit that $219 average price target some are whispering about for late 2026.
What Actually Matters for Your Wallet
If you’re holding or thinking about buying, don't just watch the weather channel. Sure, a big hurricane season in 2026 would give the stock a short-term "outage pop," but the real story is Sussex.
The new facility isn't even scheduled to fully open its manufacturing lines until the fourth quarter of 2026. This means we are in a waiting game. We’re watching to see if those "hyperscaler" discussions (think Google, Amazon, Microsoft) turn into firm, multi-year contracts.
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Actionable Insights for Investors
- Watch the C&I Margin: The Commercial & Industrial segment historically has lower margins than residential. If Generac can scale up without tanking their overall profitability, the stock wins.
- Monitor Grid Reliability: BofA noted that billion-dollar weather events are happening twice as often as they did a decade ago. It's a grim reality, but it’s a tailwind for backup power demand.
- The 200-Day Moving Average: Keep an eye on the technicals. The stock has been flirting with its moving averages, and a clean break above $175 could signal a new momentum phase.
- Check the Backlog: Every earnings call from here on out needs to mention that data center backlog. if that $300 million starts to shrink without new orders replacing it, the pivot might be stalled.
The bottom line is that Generac is no longer just a "storm stock." It’s becoming a "grid-is-broken-and-AI-is-hungry" stock. Whether that’s worth $160 or $220 depends entirely on how fast they can get those big generators out of the factory doors in Wisconsin.
Next Steps for Tracking GNRC:
- Review the Q4 2025 earnings report (expected soon) specifically for "C&I segment growth" percentages.
- Track the progress of the Sussex, Wisconsin facility expansion for any delays in the Q4 2026 timeline.
- Compare GNRC’s valuation against competitors like Caterpillar (CAT) or Cummins (CMI) to see if the AI premium is overextended.