01:15 PM EST, 03/01/2024 (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:

Shares of XEL are trading down ~14% since Wednesday's close following the company's 8-K filing, which revealed the utility had been notified of potential legal liability for the Smokehouse Creek Fire. The fire, which is estimated at 900,000 acres and was thought to be around 3% contained as of Wednesday evening, falls within the Southwestern Public Service Company (SPS) subsidiary's service territory in Texas. While investigations are ongoing as to whether XEL's equipment is at fault, investors appear to be selling first and asking questions later while keeping in mind the impact of recent wildfires on peer utilities in California, Hawaii, and Oregon. We also note XEL's potential liability for the 2021 Marshall Fire in Colorado (trial expected in 2025). We lower our 12-month target by $14 to $47, 13.1x our 2024 EPS estimate (unchanged at $3.58), below XEL's historical average and a wide discount to peer multiples. We cut our 2025 estimate by $0.02 to $3.84. Shares yield 4.4% at current levels.