There is no doubt that Hurricane Milton was a disaster. But it was not as bad as feared, and that fact has the stock of generator maker Generac (GNRC) down 4%.
GNRC stock had been rising for most of the week as demand for portable generators spiked with Hurricane Milton approaching. In fact, Generac shares rose 9% in recent days. But with Hurricane Milton downgraded to a Category 1 storm, generator demand has moderated, sending Generac stock lower.
A Warning About the Power Grid
In other news, Generac CEO Aaron Jagdfeld has offered warning about the U.S. power grid, saying that so far this year, America has lost a combined 1.2 billion hours to power outages. Jagdfeld added that rising demand for power-hungry technology applications, such as artificial intelligence (AI) are only going to put more load on a grid that is already at its limit.
Going forward, Americans should expect more blackouts, brownouts, and planned outages, and more need for Generac backups, according to Jagdfeld.
Is Generac Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on GNRC stock based on 20 Buys and five Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 9.09% rally in its share price over the past year, the average GNRC price target of $160.50 per share implies 3.67% downside risk.
