12:15 PM EDT, 04/24/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We raise our 12-month target price $2 to $118, 16.4x our 2024 EPS estimate, which remains at $7.20. Our target valuation is near peers, but stands below ETR's five-year forward average of 17.6x to account for lower utility valuations in a higher interest rate setting. We lower our 2025 estimate by $0.01 to $7.72. Q1 EPS of $1.08 vs. $1.14 missed consensus by $0.42, largely due to operations and maintenance cost timing as well as higher interest expense. Weather-normalized retail electric sales fell 0.1% Y/Y, while total retail electric customers grew 0.7% Y/Y. While ETR faced some weakness in industrial customer sales during the quarter, the company raised its yearly industrial sales growth forecast to account for new customers, including an Amazon Web Services data center in Mississippi. Despite the earnings miss, ETR maintained its yearly EPS guidance range. Shares yield 4.3%, above the 4.2% electric utilities median.