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Itron (ITRI) Hits 52-Week High on Solid Q1 & Strategic Plans

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Shares of Itron, Inc. (ITRI - Free Report) crafted a 52-week high of $68.40 on May 30, before closing lower at $67.45, backed by strong first-quarter earnings and consistent focus on strategic plans.

Itron has a market cap of roughly $2.6 billion. The average volume of shares traded in the last three months is around 228K. The stock delivered a solid one-year return of around 51.7%.

The company beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 28.95%.

Itron, Inc. Price and Consensus

 

Itron, Inc. Price and Consensus | Itron, Inc. Quote

Price Movement

Itron has outperformed the Zacks classified Electronics Testing Equipment sub-industry over the past one year with respect to price performance. The stock rallied 51.8%, while the industry recorded growth of 48.9% over the same time frame.



Driving Factors

Itron’s adjusted earnings improved 30% year over year in first-quarter 2017. Revenues, however, decreased around 4% year over year. Both the figures came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Itron is likely to benefit from consistent focus on restructuring strategy, product development, and strong bookings and backlog position.

Itron’s strategic plans include aggressively driving key operational and administrative efficiencies, implementing restructuring projects and realigning its supply chain. These actions will enable the company to increase earnings power in any revenue environment and build operating leverage for future revenue growth.

Recently, Itron signed a definitive agreement to acquire Comverge by purchasing its parent company – Peak Holding Corp. – in a cash transaction valued at approximately $100 million. The acquisition combines a world leader in gas, water, electricity and smart cities solutions, which expands the scope of smart grid offerings for the industry.

Further, Itron collaborated with Roanoke Gas Company, provider of natural gas and a subsidiary of parent company RGC Resources to modernize distribution system. In addition, Itron continues to focus on expanding its portfolio of outcome-based solutions aimed at higher growth opportunities utilizing the power of OpenWay Riva platform.

Itron currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Key Picks

Better-ranked stocks in the same space include APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS, INC. (AAOI - Free Report) , Teradyne, Inc. (TER - Free Report) and Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT - Free Report) . All of these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

APPLIED OPTOELECTRONICS has a remarkable average positive earnings surprise of 118.33% for the last four quarters. Teradyne generated an average positive earnings surprise of 25.10% over the trailing four quarters. Applied Materials has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 3.35% in the past four quarters.

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