UPDATE: Bank of America Reiterates Buy Rating, Lowers PT on Itron

In a report published Friday, Bank of America reiterated its Buy rating on Itron

, but lowered its price target from $55.00 to $50.00. Bank of America noted, “Itron is a leading electric, gas, and water meter vendor. Upgrades to smart meters are inevitable, in our view, but will be soft in the US the next couple years before taking off in the electricity segment in Europe and Latin America in 2014. Itron has a broad smart energy product set in communication and data management to help bridge the gap. Weak backlog portends some revenue risk, but note that cost structure improvements have expanded margins, which is a trend we expect to continue.” Itron closed on Thursday at $43.51.