State supreme court order ‘a win’ for Hawaiian Electric, says Jefferies

Jefferies analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith notes that Hawaii’s state supreme court ruled against the insurance companies on Monday and decided that insurers cannot bring separate legal actions against parties blamed for the 2023 Maui wildfire. While the firm sees the court’s order as “a win” for Hawaiian Electric (HE) that improves visibility towards finalizing the roughly $4B settlement for the 2023 Maui wildfires, it argues that legislation providing visibility into how future wildfires will be dealt with is needed before the stock can move significantly higher. The firm maintains a Hold rating and $10 price target on the shares, adding that it believes the odds of wildfire legislation passing in this session should become clear around April/May.