Xcel Energy raised to Buy at BofA on proposed Colorado resource plan
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Xcel Energy (NASDAQ:XEL) +1.5% in Friday's trading as Bank of America upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral with $66 price target, raised from $58, citing "substantial growth opportunities" for the rest of the decade given resource planning in Colorado.
Xcel's (XEL) recent Colorado Resource Plan proposal "lays the foundation for an upward inflection in rate base growth to the end of the decade, with additional upside potentially beyond," BofA's Julien Dumoulin-Smith wrote.
In a sector with companies largely playing defense given interest rate and inflationary pressures, Xcel's (XEL) "emerging growth story comes across as all the more compelling," the analyst said.
Xcel's (XEL) compound annual growth rate guidance for earnings should rise to 6%-8% from 5%-7% after the Colorado proposal and opportunity in New Mexico, Dumoulin-Smith said.

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