Wedbush Lowers PT on Itron to $60 After 3Q Miss
Wedbush Securities has published a research note on Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI) and has lowered the price target from $80 to $60 following 3Q earnings miss.
In the report, Wedbush writes, "3Q11 rev/non-GAAP EPS was $615.6m/$0.92 vs. our $605m/$1.21 and $583.2m/$1.04 consensus. GAAP EPS of ($12.70) included a $540.4m charge writing down goodwill for the 2007 Actaris acquisition, driven by Itron's equity market valuation. Gross margins were 28.6% vs. our 32.5% estimate and the 32.3% consensus. Margins were down (258) bps vs 2Q11 and (306) bps vs 3Q10, reflecting around $13m in warranty expenses which were a $0.33 EPS drag in the quarter."
Wedbush maintains its Outperform rating on Itron, which is currently trading up $2.26 from yesterday's $36.46 closing price.
