California utilities slide after wildfire bill amendments, broker downgrades
BUZZ-California utilities slide after wildfire bill amendments, broker downgrades Updates
** Shares of California utilities fall premarket
** PG&E Corp PCG.N down 17.8%, Edison International EIX.N down 13.1%, Sempra SRE.N down 3.3%
** California lawmakers amend Senate Bill 492, preserving insurers' ability to recover wildfire-related claims from utilities
** Mizuho cuts ratings on PCG and EIX to "neutral" from "outperform"; lowers PT to $16 from $21 and $70 from $86, respectively
** TD Cowen says the legislation offers "no meaningful incremental benefit" for utilities versus the current framework
** BMO downgrades PG&E to "market perform" from "outperform"; cuts PT to $21 from $28
** PG&E says the bill does not adequately address financing risks tied to California's wildfire liability framework
** Year-to-date, PCG up 3.3%, EIX up 16.9% and SRE down 4.5% as of last close
(Reporting by Darshan Kumar and Varun Sahay in Bangalore)