Hawaiian Electric Industries probability-weighted downside much greater than upside – Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo downgraded shares of Hawaiian Electric Industries (NYSE:) to Underweight from Equal Weight in a note Friday, with analysts lowering the price target to $8 per share from $8.50.

Analysts said in a note to clients that there are some glimmers of hope for the company, but a “potentially large liability still looms.”

There were some “positive state and HPUC developments on the Maui wildfires front infused some optimism into HE shares,” the analysts noted.

However, they added that shares of HE “come with a high level of uncertainty with frankly minimal insight into what the investigations are going to say or what elected officials might do,” said the analysts.

“We downgrade our rating on shares of HE to UW from EW as we believe the probability-weighted downside is much greater than the upside at today’s levels (which we believe reflect more of a ~50% no liability chance).”

In addition, Wells Fargo believes that there are likely still many months, if not years, before a potential resolution.