Gev Stock fell 10.6% in May after CEO Scott Strazik warned that a fast-growing part of the company’s business is running into more resistance. At a late-May Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, he said more U.S. states are pushing back against new data centers because of severe grid strain and higher electricity rates.

The move mattered because GE Vernova had spent the prior year trading like a market favorite. Its shares had rallied 255% in the one year through April 2026, after the company raised its 2026 guidance in late April and said first-quarter orders jumped 71%. That kind of run left the stock vulnerable to any sign that execution could get harder, even if the operating numbers still looked strong.

Those numbers were still strong. GE Vernova said its gas power equipment backlog and slot reservation agreements rose from 83 gigawatts to 100 gigawatts, with management expecting them to top 110 gigawatts by the end of the year. The company’s total backlog reached $263 billion in the first quarter, and it now projects 18% revenue growth at the midpoint for 2026. For a company that is the world’s largest manufacturer of natural gas turbines, that demand backdrop remains unusually powerful.

But the stock was not reacting only to growth. Customers seeking a new natural gas turbine today face a waiting list that stretches to 2029, and the market was already treating the shares as if that demand could keep compounding without friction. Strazik’s warning suggested the next stage may not be as smooth, especially if state-level pressure on data center power projects slows approvals or delays deals in the U.S.

There was also a legal overhang. GE Vernova tried to exit the Vineyard Wind offshore project, saying it was owed $360 million in unpaid invoices. Iberdola countered by seeking to block the exit and claiming over $1 billion in damages and losses tied to a 2024 wind turbine blade failure, and a Massachusetts judge ordered GE Vernova to stay on the job or take the dispute to arbitration. That does not change the company’s broader business case, but it does add another source of uncertainty while the stock is still digesting May’s selloff and June’s follow-through.

The key question now is not whether GE Vernova has demand. It does. The question is how much of that demand can be converted cleanly enough to keep supporting a premium valuation after a 10.6% monthly drop, a public warning about data center pushback, and a dispute that is still headed toward arbitration if the sides do not settle.