A growing shortage of skilled workers needed to build data centers will likely accelerate Quanta Services' earnings at a faster rate than Wall Street expects, Bernstein analysts wrote Thursday.
Bernstein upgraded Quanta to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its price target for the stock to $775 from $748, implying a 22% upside from its closing price of $634.90 on Wednesday.
Labor constraints will emerge for the broader data-center buildout, to which Quanta has "invested aggressively to capture this opportunity," the analysts wrote. They added that customers "value labor availability" and that Quanta can scale four times faster than the industry.
The data-center "construction bottleneck is shifting from megawatts to manpower," Bernstein analysts said.
Bernstein expects Quanta's full-year earnings per share to rise 25% by 2030, while Wall Street forecasts 15%, according to FactSet. A further $15 billion in free cash flow could be generated over that time, which analysts said could add 8% earnings a share growth annually.
Of the 24 analysts polled by FactSet, 13 issued a Buy rating for Quanta, and three are a hold.
Jefferies analysts slashed their price target on Quanta to $784 from $857 in July, but they raised their target to $833 in August, arguing Wall Street had reduced projections for Quanta's fiscal 2027 and 2028 too quickly.
Shares of Quanta rose 0.8% to $640.16 on Thursday, and the stock is up 52% this year. Shares are up 47% since Barron's recommended them in October 2025.
JPMorgan lauded Quanta's labor capabilities in June, saying the company has "more journeymen electricians than any other contractor in the country" as more AI-linked firms relied on Quanta in developing data centers.
Quanta stock lagged behind competitors earlier this year as the electricity services contractor was under pressure about growing competition. Even as doubts emerged, Quanta lifted its 2026 guidance for revenue to $39.7 billion from $39.3 billion after second-quarter revenue rose 41%.
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