onurdongel
New Jersey Resources (NYSE:NJR) +1.4% in Thursday’s trading as J.P. Morgan upgraded to Neutral from Underweight with a $46 price target, ticked up from $44, following a meeting with management that raised confidence in the company’s 12-month outlook, particularly relative to recent stock weakness.
As a result, JPM’s Richard Sunderland issued his upgrade to reflect a more balanced view across expectations that NJR’s (NJR) FY 2024 guidance should land above the high end of its growth rate and represent a positive near-term catalyst for the stock.
Sunderland said NJR’s (NJR) overall diversified energy model has yielded consistent earnings benefits of late, and near-term growth drivers create room for the company to ramp its solar development activity; while questions remain around achieving the long-term CEV solar outlook, the analyst sees near-term EPS outperformance as an offsetting factor.
