NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Businesses across the country are facing a big question this week: Will the heat wave sweeping the nation help or hurt their sales figures?

Surprisingly, the answer for most businesses is a positive one, according to analysts.

New York-based power company ConEd is facing record power usage this week, and has urged customers to reduce their consumption.

"Sure, some people are delaying shopping trips," said John Lawrence, a retail analyst with Morgan, Keegan and Co. "But I'm also seeing people heading to malls specifically for the air conditioning."

As temperatures hit the triple digits, and the National Weather Service posts heat advisories and warnings from Maine to Oklahoma, which businesses will get scorched and which will shine?

For big retail chains like Wal-Mart (Charts), which has had a lackluster summer so far due to spiking gas prices, the answer is critical.

"Obviously it's going to be a big boost for sales of seasonal products," said Lawrence. "Can you stock too many fans and air conditioners? Probably not. The big challenge for the stores is making sure they're always available on shelves and not sold out."

Home improvement retailer Lowe's (Charts) reports that it has seen customers turning to window air conditioners, portable fans and ceiling fans to get relief.

With an average window-mounted air conditioner selling for about $150, that's a nice revenue bump for what has been a sluggish summer for many retailers so far. (Full story)

Lawrence said that while he believes the heat might deter some customers from leaving the house, gas prices have already made consumers very conscious about their car trips.

Meanwhile, air conditioners were humming across the Mideast and much of the East, and hundreds if not thousands of businesses were encouraging employees to cut back on electricity use.

In New York City, Morgan Stanley, MTV and Reuters on Wednesday turned off their 24-hour news tickers in Times Square.

Utility companies were wrestling to meet the huge jump in energy consumption.

New York-based power company ConEd (Charts) is facing record power usage this week, and has urged customers to reduce their consumption, according to Reuters.

"ConEd will definitely sell more units this summer," said Paul Fremont of Jefferies & Co. "But there are some issues for them as well: the consumption heavily taxes their distribution system and tests the adequacy of power plants."

Blackouts are a major concern for the company, especially after high demand during the first days of the heat wave crippled its distribution in the borough of Queens, leaving 25,000 people without power for a week.

"If their system goes down, that creates three major costs for the company," said Fremont."They have to pay repair costs, the cost of lost business, and damages to customers for grocery and business spoilage."

Fremont said that because ConEd's prices are regulated by the state of New York, the company will see less benefits than companies that only generate, as opposed to distribute, power.

As power demand surges, energy distribution companies like ConEd have to pay higher prices for power, while the prices they can charge customers remain the same.

Pure energy production companies like NRG (Charts) and Mirant (Charts) will see the biggest profit boosts, Fremont said. Other more diversified companies like Edison International (Charts), FPL (Charts) and Dominion (Charts) will also see a sales boost, he said.

ConEd stock is up 5 percent over the last month. Over the same period, NRG's has risen 4 percent, FPL has gained 6 percent and Edison International has jumped 11 percent.

When the world gets hot, consumer head for cold. And nothing satisfies people quite like bottled beverages. That means a big boost for the beverage industry, said John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest.

"Several years ago, when it was extraordinarily hot and dry in Europe, we saw very strong growth in the beverage business," said Sicher. "It's inevitable that hot weather will spur greater consumption."

He said that sports drinks and bottled water would get the biggest boost from the heat wave.

"Pepsi (Charts) owns Gatorade, which is likely to really benefit from this hot spell," said Sicher. "Sports drinks are growing very strongly anyway, so this is just another push."

Pepsi also owns the Aquafina purified water brand, as well as Tropicana fruit drinks.

Coke (Charts), meanwhile, owns the Dasani brand of bottled water, PowerAde energy drink and Minute Maid juice brand.

And if you think the heat will keep people inside, think again.

While it may change some behavior, it won't keep folks away from amusement parks, said analyst David Miller of Sanders Morris Harris.

He said that Six Flags (Charts), which owns 20 amusement parks and 10 water parks in North America, is well-poised to see a benefit from the heat wave.

"From an attendance perspective, the heat is great news, because the company will see a boost in water park visits," Miller said. "Though people who might normally attend the main theme parks will opt to go to the water parks instead."

He said that would not probably keep many families away, however.

"If your kid wants to go to a Six Flags park, you're not going to tell them it's too hot," he said. "There's a strong chance that the park will even see a jump in per-capita spending."

Six Flags had no immediate comment.

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