What happened

Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC) jumped about 21% after its second-quarter report, one of the biggest single-day pops in the mid-cap energy space. This one was the numbers. Q2 revenue came in at $515.5M versus the roughly $463M analysts expected, and adjusted earnings were $0.20 a share against a $0.16 estimate. But the line that really moved the stock was the order book: Ameresco booked $1.8B of new awards in the quarter, including $1.2B tied to data centres, pushing total backlog to a record $6.73B, up 32% from a year ago.

Why it moved

The AI build-out has a boring bottleneck: power. New data centres need electricity on site — generation, battery storage, switchgear, efficiency — often faster than the grid can deliver it. Ameresco builds exactly that, and this quarter its Power Infrastructure segment grew 65% as those orders landed. Management then did what markets love after a beat — it raised guidance, lifting full-year adjusted EPS to $1.15–$1.35 (above the ~$1.10 the street had) and setting a revenue target of $2.0–$2.2B. A beat plus a raise plus a record backlog is the trifecta that turns a quiet small-cap into a 20%-mover.

Is it expensive?

Not really, by today's AI-adjacent standards. Even after the pop, Ameresco's market cap sits around $1.2–1.4B and it trades near a P/E of ~39 (per companiesmarketcap) — not cheap in absolute terms, but modest next to the theme's marquee names. Compare it with Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE), the fuel-cell company also selling on-site data-centre power: Bloom is roughly a $48B company on a trailing P/E north of 180x. So Ameresco is a far smaller, far cheaper way to play the same "power for AI" story — with the trade-off that it's a lumpy project builder, not a high-margin product maker.

The business

Ameresco isn't a data-centre pure-play. It designs, builds and operates energy projects: efficiency retrofits for governments and utilities, on-site solar and battery storage, renewable natural gas plants, and now power infrastructure for data centres. Today's $1.2B of data-centre awards is the hot new slice — but it sits inside a broader, steadier book of public-sector and utility work. That mix is why one great quarter shouldn't be mistaken for a single-theme rocket.

Who it touches

• US power-gen and grid kit — the data-centre-power theme lifts equipment names like GE Vernova and Bloom Energy alongside Ameresco.
• India angle — the same "who powers the data centre" question drives local gensets and powergen: Kirloskar Oil Engines, Cummins India and Thermax ride this trend at home.
• Utilities and hyperscalers — faster on-site power means data centres can come online without waiting years for a grid connection.

What to watch

The one thing that flips it: backlog is not revenue. A record $6.73B order book only helps if those projects actually get built on time and on budget — and Ameresco's work is capital-heavy and lumpy, with project debt on the balance sheet. If awards slip or margins on the data-centre jobs disappoint, the re-rating can reverse. For now, the market is paying up for a small-cap that just proved it's plugged into the AI power grab.

As of ~12:46 PM ET / ~4 Aug, 10:16 PM IST, 2026 (Q2 results reported Aug 3). Sources: Benzinga, StockStory, MarketsDaily, companiesmarketcap. For discussion and education only — not investment advice. Verify before acting.