The short answer
Vistra (VST) remains HALAL under ZakatInvest's qualitative core-business verdict, but its current total-assets financial screen fails on leverage. The qualitative verdict is HALAL because Vistra supplies electricity through retail and generation businesses, yet its March 2026 filing shows debt/assets of 46.39%, above the examined 33% limit. Wholesale derivatives, customer end uses and environmental questions remain matters on which scholars and methodologies can differ.
This is a reproducible research screen, not a fatwa or investment recommendation. The quantitative result is not an official index classification, and investors should compare it with the methodology and scholar they follow.
Current quantitative Sharia screen
Based on 10-Q figures for the period ended 2026-03-31; calculated 2026-07-13.
19,163 / 41,308
975 / 41,308
2,618 / 41,308
7 / 5,640
- Financial
- Fails
- Overall
- Fails
Debt is 46.39% of total assets and exceeds the examined FTSE limit. Liquidity is 2.36%, receivables plus cash are 6.34% and disclosed interest income is 0.12% of revenue; the business-activity allocation remains incomplete.
- Financial
- Fails
- Overall
- Fails
Debt is 46.39% of total assets and exceeds the examined MSCI total-assets limit, while liquidity and receivables-plus-cash remain below the corresponding limits. This is a calculation against the named total-assets method, not an index-membership claim; the business screen remains incomplete.
- Financial
- Fails
- Overall
- Fails
Debt is 46.39% of total assets and exceeds the examined 33% limit; identifiable liquidity is 2.36%. This is a calculation against SAC ratios, not an official SAC classification of a U.S.-listed security; the business screen remains incomplete.
- Financial
- Not calculated
- Overall
- Not calculated
A properly licensed and reproducible historical market-cap series is not stored, so these methods are not estimated from a current spot price.
Business-activity disclosure
Vistra operates competitive electricity generation and retail businesses, including natural-gas, nuclear, coal, solar and battery-storage assets. Supplying electricity and operating power infrastructure are generally permissible core activities, while wholesale commodity derivatives, environmental externalities, financing and end-use mix create school- and contract-specific questions.
Limitation: The latest filing reports operating revenues and segment results but does not quantify a defensible percentage for prohibited customer end uses, derivative activity, interest-linked products or other screened categories. No universal prohibited-revenue percentage is entered.
Purification
The filing discloses $7 million of interest income but does not quantify screened customer categories or derivative-related prohibited revenue. The site therefore does not prescribe a fixed purification percentage; readers should follow the scholar or methodology they use.
Inputs, assumptions and primary sources
- Interest-bearing debt uses Vistra's $19,163 million long-term-debt balance including amounts due currently. Accounts-receivable financing, forward repurchase obligations, lease liabilities and derivative liabilities are reported separately and are not added to this debt input.
- Cash uses $634 million of cash and cash equivalents. Restricted cash of $37 million is separately identified and excluded.
- Interest-bearing securities use the $341 million NDT debt-securities balance disclosed in the fair-value note. NDT equity securities and other investments are not treated as debt securities.
- Receivables use $1,984 million of net trade accounts receivable. Commodity and other derivative contractual assets are not added to the receivables numerator.
- Revenue uses $5,640 million of operating revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2026. The filing attributes the increase partly to unrealized mark-to-market gains on commodity derivatives, higher wholesale capacity and energy revenue, and acquired plants.
- The filing separately reports $7 million of interest income within other deductions, net. It does not quantify a universal prohibited-revenue numerator for electricity, retail, generation, commodity derivatives or customer end uses.
- Vistra's business includes retail electricity, Texas, East, West and Asset Closure segments, with generation assets including natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar and battery storage. Segment revenue is not a Sharia prohibited-activity allocation.
This is a reproducible financial screen, not a fatwa. A failed total-assets screen can coexist with a pass under a market-cap methodology. ZakatInvest keeps the qualitative assessment separate so numerical thresholds do not erase material context.
Current quantitative screen
The calculations above use Vistra's official filing (Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026). Amounts are in USD millions and use total assets as the denominator so the inputs can be reproduced from the filing.
- Interest-bearing debt / assets: 46.39%, using $19.163 billion of long-term debt including amounts due currently.
- Cash plus separately identified interest-bearing securities / assets: 2.36%, using $634 million of cash and $341 million of NDT debt securities. Restricted cash and NDT equity securities are excluded.
- Receivables plus cash / assets: 6.34%, using $1.984 billion of net trade receivables and the reported cash balance.
- Interest income / revenue: 0.12%, using the filing's $7 million interest-income line against $5.640 billion of quarterly operating revenue.
The reproduced FTSE Yasaar, MSCI total-assets and Malaysia SAC financial-ratio calculations fail because the debt ratio exceeds the examined leverage limit; liquidity and receivables-plus-cash are below the corresponding limits. Market-cap-denominator methods are not calculated because this site does not store a licensed, reproducible historical market-cap series. The filing does not quantify a universal prohibited-revenue numerator, so the business screen remains incomplete.
What Vistra does now
Vistra operates competitive electricity generation and retail businesses through Retail, Texas, East, West and Asset Closure segments. Its portfolio includes natural-gas, nuclear, coal, solar and battery-storage assets, and it sells electricity and capacity to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Q1 2026 operating revenue was $5.640 billion, with the filing attributing the year-over-year increase partly to higher wholesale capacity and energy revenue, acquired plants and unrealized mark-to-market gains on commodity derivatives.
The older fixed split of revenue into retail, generation, storage and “other” is not retained because the current filing does not support those percentages. Nor does the filing establish that prohibited customer end uses or derivative activity are zero.
Qualitative considerations
- Electricity as the core business: generating, storing and selling electricity is generally a permissible utility activity and is the basis for the site's HALAL core-business verdict.
- Wholesale trading and derivatives: Vistra uses commodity derivatives to hedge and trade power positions. Physical electricity transactions may be treated differently from speculative or derivative structures, so contract purpose and scholar methodology matter.
- Customer end use: the company serves broad retail and wholesale customer bases but does not publish a Sharia-screened split by customer activity. A universal “zero haram revenue” claim is therefore unsupported.
- Generation mix and stewardship: coal emissions, nuclear safety and decommissioning, natural-gas dependence, environmental remediation and the transition to solar and storage are material ethical considerations for investors applying a khalifah or stewardship lens.
- Leverage and financing: senior notes, project-level loans, credit facilities and receivables financing are material. The 46.39% debt/assets result is the binding quantitative concern and should be rechecked after every filing.
- Operations and governance: acquisitions, plant closures, power-market concentration, reliability obligations, regulatory exposure and customer affordability warrant continuing review.
How the methodologies differ
Under FTSE Yasaar, the debt ratio fails while liquidity, receivables-plus-cash and disclosed interest income are below the examined limits; the activity allocation remains incomplete. Under MSCI total-assets and the Malaysia SAC financial-ratio calculation, the debt ratio also fails. These are calculations against named methods, not official index-membership claims or a universal scholarly ruling.
Bottom line
VST is presented as HALAL on ZakatInvest's qualitative core-business assessment, with a current financial-screen failure on debt/assets. Investors who require every financial ratio to pass may avoid it or wait for leverage to improve; investors following a different denominator or scholarly approach should apply that framework directly. The filing-based evidence does not support a fixed purification percentage, so no percentage is prescribed here.
Electricity generation and retail are generally permissible, while leverage, derivatives, customer mix and environmental stewardship require continuing review.
Check another asset →