UPDATE: ISI Group Upgrades ITC Holdings Corp. to Buy, Raises PT on Positive Forecast

In a report published Thursday, ISI Group analyst Greg Gordon upgraded the rating on

from Neutral to Buy, and raised the price target from $88.00 to $100.00. In the report, ISI Group noted, “We are upgrading ITC to buy from neutral and raising 12-month target price to $100, which is 15.3x our 2015 earnings estimate of $6.55/share, a ~15% total return from the current share price. Our prior target was $88/share. ITC is up 8.7% since we launched coverage on 2/11/13 vs. 6.3% for the Regulated Utility group and 11.1% for the S&P500. Since it hit its 52-week high of $95.73 on 7/23/13 the stock is down 8% vs. down 3.6% for the group, with the S&P500 down 0.4%. The longer term story for ITC on a stand-alone basis looks compelling. They expect to spend up to $4.2 bn on FERC approved capital investments from 2012 through 2016; ~60% will be base capital and network upgrades and ~40% for development projects. The company does not appear to need common equity for funding. ITC expects earnings would grow 15-17% through '16 at the high end of the capex forecast, while the lower end would equate to earnings growth of 12-13%. We forecast ITC growing EPS from $4.14/shr in 2012 to $6.55/shr in 2015.” ITC Holdings Corp. closed on Wednesday at $88.03.