Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Itron (ITRI) Inks Deal With Vectren to Modernize Energy Grid

Read MoreHide Full Article

Itron, Inc. (ITRI - Free Report) has signed a contract with Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana – South, a subsidiary of Vectren Corporation . Per the contract, Vectren will install Itron’s OpenWay Riva IoT solution throughout its South territory to modernize the energy grid in the region.

Notably, Vectren provides energy delivery services to 250,000 electricity and gas customers in Southwest Indiana. The company offers safe and reliable energy services and innovative solutions to customers.

Per the project, Vectren will also leverage Itron Total Outcomes, which provides cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications. Thus, Itron’s solutions will provide Vectren a highly secure and resilient multi-application network infrastructure, and technology platform which will assist customers to better manage their energy consumption and costs.

Since the end of third-quarter 2017, Itron has been awarded several contracts. In the Water segment, the company has been awarded contracts subsequent to the end of the quarter, including SANEPAR in Brazil, and contracts in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Malta. The company also recently extended its contract with Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative by three years to provide pay-for-performance demand-response solution.

On the back of the above-mentioned contracts, the company estimates significant sequential increase in bookings for fourth-quarter 2017, which will likely result in a book-to-bill ratio greater than 1:1. Moreover, Itron is poised to gain from the OpenWay Riva smart solutions, increase in bookings and strategic acquisitions.

Share Price Performance

In the past year, Itron has underperformed the industry it belongs to partly due to delays in Water projects. The company’s shares have gained around 7.7% compared with 46.9% growth recorded by the industry.



Zacks Rank & Key Picks

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

Better-ranked stocks in the same industry are Fortive Corporation (FTV - Free Report) and AMETEK, Inc. (AME - Free Report) . While Fortive sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), AMETEK carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Fortive has a long-term earnings growth rate of 10.2%. Its shares have rallied 36.1%, year to date.

AMETEK has a long-term earnings growth rate of 11.9%. The stock has rallied 49.1% in the year so far.

Zacks’ Best Private Investment Ideas

While we are happy to share many articles like this on the website, our best recommendations and most in-depth research are not available to the public.

Starting today, for the next month, you can follow all Zacks' private buys and sells in real time. Our experts cover all kinds of trades… from value to momentum . . . from stocks under $10 to ETF and option moves . . . from stocks that corporate insiders are buying up to companies that are about to report positive earnings surprises. You can even look inside exclusive portfolios that are normally closed to new investors.

Click here for Zacks' private trades >>


Zacks' 7 Best Strong Buy Stocks (New Research Report)


Valued at $99, click below to receive our just-released report
predicting the 7 stocks that will soar highest in the coming month.


Click Here, It's Really Free

Published in