NextEra Energy cut at BofA as Florida surprise provides cause for caution

peterschreiber.media/iStock via Getty Images

NextEra Energy (NYSE:NEE) shares are flat in choppy trading Thursday after plunging 8.7% Wednesday in their biggest decline since April 2020 as the company refuted claims of campaign violations.

Bank of America downgraded shares to Neutral from Buy with an $80 price target, cut from $94, saying NextEra (NEE) had been one of the bank's most lasting Buys over a multi-year period but the prospects of protracted uncertainty in Florida is "a cautious development."

With the surprise departure of Florida Power & Light chief Eric Silagy and prospects for a lack of clarity for much of 2023, if not longer, BofA's Julien Dumoulin-Smith said NextEra (NEE) shares look rangebound, lacking upside.

The analyst said he had hoped for a positive earnings guidance surprise in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act, "but the lack of earnings surprise in conjunction with the Florida developments represented the absence of a positive offset to dampen the blow of negative news."

NextEra Energy (NEE) "boasts a diversified portfolio of electric generation assets that provide stable and predictable cash flows," Bashar Issa writes in an analysis published recently on Seeking Alpha.