Itron, Inc. (ITRI) Stock Forecasts

Summary

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the PCE Price Index, will be released this morning by the BEA. The index differs from the better-known Consumer Price Index because its composition changes more frequently and it reflects the impact of real-time pricing more quickly. In the most recent report, through March, PCE inflation was 2.7% year-over-year; in comparison, the last CPI report, through April, showed inflation at 3.4%. Core PCE, which strips out volatility in food and energy prices, was 2.8% last month. Our PCE forecast calls for 2.7% for both the headline and core figures — roughly in line month-to-month as progress toward the 2% target of Fed become more difficult as the goal gets closer. Overall, inflation during this cycle peaked in the summer of 2022 and trended downward until plateauing recently. We track 20 inflation measures on a monthly basis. On average, they report that prices are increasing at a rate of 2.6% year-over-year, up 30 basis points from a month ago. The numbers are volatile and are somewhat distorted by the ultra-low numbers in the producer-priced intermediate goods category, which are falling at a rate of 5% and could indicate falling prices across the entire commodity spectrum. inflation in the coming months. Focusing on core inflation — which we obtain by averaging core CPI, market-based PCE excluding food and energy (G