PG&E, GitLab, Sempra: Analyst Price Targets
Nine analyst actions landed on Monday in all, across the three names below. Four landed on PG&E ($PCG). Three landed on GitLab ($GTLB), and two on Sempra ($SRE).
PG&E Books $5.90 Billion In Quarterly Revenue And Draws Four Analyst Moves
PG&E is a holding company. Its main subsidiary is Pacific Gas and Electric, a regulated utility in central and northern California. That utility serves 5.3 million electricity customers. It also serves 4.6 million gas customers, across 47 of the state’s 58 counties. One utility sells both commodities across that single territory.
What Senate Bill 492 Does
Senate Bill 492 reached its current form on 29 August. Lawmakers took a bill that had been a $1 billion youth housing bond. They then replaced its text with wildfire language. It is written as an urgency measure. A floor vote was expected on Tuesday morning.
The Fund Behind The Bill
The bill sits on top of a fund California created in 2019 under Assembly Bill 1054. That fund holds $21 billion. It pays wildfire claims that would reach a utility’s own balance sheet. State officials have warned that Eaton fire claims could exhaust it on their own. Insured property losses there may reach $15.2 billion. UCLA researchers put total losses at $24 billion to $45 billion, moreover, once uninsured damage and wrongful-death claims are counted.
What the bill leaves out is the part that would bound a utility’s exposure. Consumer advocates have read the text. They say it caps neither economic nor noneconomic damages. Nor does it confine smoke-damage claims to a fire perimeter. Local government claims, private business claims and attorney contingency fees are uncapped too. Governor Newsom had proposed a limit on what insurers can recover after a fire. That was left out of the compromise as well. The bill does add a Fast Pay program to speed compensation to survivors, though. It also bars a bonus for executives whose equipment starts a large fire.
PG&E said on Sunday that the bill does not adequately address the financing risks created by California’s wildfire liability framework. It falls short of the durability needed to attract affordable investment, the company said. It also pointed to an April report from the California Earthquake Authority finding existing funding mechanisms insufficient. Revenue in the quarter reported on 23 July was $5.90 billion, meanwhile, against a $6.21 billion consensus. Adjusted earnings went the other way, at $0.40 a share against $0.36 expected.
PG&E’s Stock Price Target News Today
Anthony Crowdell of Mizuho downgraded PG&E to Neutral from Outperform on Monday, and cut his price target from $21 to $16. He cut Edison International that same morning as well.
James Thalacker of BMO went to Market Perform from Outperform that morning as well, lowering his target from $28 to $21.
Shahriar Pourreza of Wells Fargo also cut his rating on Monday, to Equal Weight from Overweight, and trimmed his target from $25 to $24.
Gregg Orrill of UBS, however, kept his Buy rating that day. He took his target from $23 to $22 even so, the only one of the four who left a rating alone.
What Those Four Records Look Like
Crowdell has met 83 percent of his price targets, in an average of 441 days. AnaChart holds 1,230 targets and ratings from him, across 45 stocks. Thalacker, in turn, is at 73.76 percent. He takes 351 days, on 1,047 items across 29 stocks. Pourreza, meanwhile, sits at 71.02 percent. He needs 490 days, on 897 items across 53 stocks. Orrill’s own PG&E calls have been met 10 times in 15, over 276 days.
The average target across the 8 analysts AnaChart tracks on PG&E stands at $22.44. Among the coverage that did not move, David Arcaro of Morgan Stanley carries Hold at $22, set on 21 August. Julien Dumoulin-Smith of BofA Securities also holds Buy at $19.
GitLab Books $264 Million In Quarterly Revenue And Draws Three Target Raises
GitLab sells a complete DevSecOps platform. It is delivered as a single application, rather than as separate tools. That puts it in two competitive landscapes at once, meanwhile. There are the point solutions a team stitches together itself, and the rival platforms selling the same consolidation. GitLab itself runs on an all-remote model.
In June the company expanded its Google Cloud partnership. That launched a fully managed DevSecOps platform for enterprise compliance, with Gemini 3.5. Revenue in the quarter reported on 2 June was $264.16 million, against a $254.40 million consensus. Adjusted earnings beat as well, at $0.23 a share against $0.15. The next report lands on Tuesday after the close, meanwhile, with the call at 4:30. All three of Monday’s moves were therefore set a day ahead.
GitLab’s Stock Price Target News Today
Jonathan Ruykhaver of Cantor Fitzgerald kept Neutral on Monday and raised his price target from $35 to $50.
Nick Altmann of BTIG held Buy that morning too, and lifted his from $36 to $52.
Lucky Schreiner of D.A. Davidson also stayed at Neutral on Monday, and took his from $35 to $45.
What Those Three Records Look Like
Ruykhaver has met 74.4 percent of his price targets, in 222 days. His record, meanwhile, runs to 687 targets and ratings on 43 stocks. Altmann, by contrast, is at 66.84 percent, and in 92 days, on 273 items across 18 stocks. Schreiner, then, sits at 58.99 percent, in 63 days. His is 133 items across 9 stocks.
The average target across the 24 analysts AnaChart tracks on GitLab stands at $36.44, and the board runs from $24 to $60. Among the coverage that did not move, Derrick Wood of TD Cowen carries Hold at $42, set on 27 August. Matthew Hedberg of RBC also holds Hold, at $46. Gregg Moskowitz of Mizuho sits at Hold and $34.
Sempra Books $3.00 Billion In Quarterly Revenue And Draws Two Analyst Moves
Sempra runs one of the largest utility customer bases in the country. Its California utilities are San Diego Gas & Electric and SoCalGas. Those two cover the half of the state PG&E does not. It owns 80 percent of Oncor as well. That is a transmission and distribution business in Texas. Sempra Infrastructure Partners sits alongside those two, and it builds rather than distributes. That is three businesses, then, across two states.
The wildfire framework reaches one of them. San Diego Gas & Electric is the electric utility inside California’s regime. It is the Sempra subsidiary that draws on the state wildfire fund. SoCalGas moves gas only. Oncor’s Texas customers sit outside California’s liability rules altogether, meanwhile. Sempra Infrastructure develops energy projects, not a regulated customer base. The same downgrade therefore reaches a narrower share of Sempra’s earnings than it does at PG&E, where one California utility is the company.
Revenue in the quarter reported on 6 August was $3.00 billion, though, against a $3.20 billion consensus. Adjusted earnings beat, at $1.16 a share against $1.01 expected.
Sempra’s Stock Price Target News Today
Crowdell downgraded Sempra to Neutral from Outperform on Monday as well. He then lowered his target there from $104 to $84, citing the same wildfire backdrop.
Paul Fremont of Ladenburg Thalmann set his Sempra target at $98 that morning as well.
What Those Two Records Look Like
Fremont has met 78.24 percent of his price targets, in 613 days. His record runs to 681 targets and ratings across 40 stocks in all.
The average target across the 12 analysts AnaChart tracks on Sempra stands at $102.63. Among the coverage that did not move, Nicholas Campanella of Barclays carries Buy at $103. Arcaro also holds Buy at $104, set on 21 August. Thalacker carries Buy here too, at $102.
Questions Readers Ask About These Numbers
How many analyst actions landed on these three names on Monday? Nine in all. PG&E drew four, from Mizuho, BMO, Wells Fargo and UBS. GitLab drew three, meanwhile, from Cantor Fitzgerald, BTIG and D.A. Davidson. Sempra drew two, from Mizuho and Ladenburg Thalmann.
What is behind the utility downgrades? Crowdell cited the wildfire backdrop, and cut PG&E, Sempra and Edison International the same morning. Senate Bill 492 was rewritten as a wildfire measure on 29 August, and a floor vote was expected on Tuesday. As amended it caps neither economic nor noneconomic damages, and it does not limit attorney contingency fees. PG&E said on Sunday that the bill does not adequately address the financing risks in California’s wildfire liability framework.
What is the state wildfire fund, and why does it matter to these three names? California created it in 2019 under Assembly Bill 1054. The fund holds $21 billion, and it pays wildfire claims that would reach a utility’s balance sheet. State officials have warned that claims from the Eaton fire could exhaust it. PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric both sit inside that framework. Oncor’s Texas business does not.
The previous session’s actions are in the 28 August update. The analyst price target dataset holds the underlying record for every name above.
