Should You Buy Idacorp Inc (IDA) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.
Conclusion
Hold
Latest Price
132.230
1 Day change
-0.09%
52 Week Range
138.030
Analysis Updated At
2026/01/29
IDA is NOT a good buy right now for a beginner long-term investor who wants to act immediately. The stock is in a mild uptrend, but momentum is fading near resistance, options positioning skews bearish (heavy put open interest), and Wall Street views are split with a notable downgrade and a price target well below the current price. My call: HOLD/skip initiating a new position at $132.35 today.
Technical Analysis
Price/Trend: Despite the -1.35% regular-session drop, the trend structure remains bullish with SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200, indicating an established uptrend.
Momentum: MACD histogram is positive (0.219) but contracting, suggesting upside momentum is weakening. RSI_6 ~50.8 is neutral, implying no strong immediate edge for buyers.
Levels: Current price (~132.35) is slightly below the pivot (132.817). Immediate support sits at S1 ~131.10 (then S2 ~130.05). Nearby resistance is R1 ~134.53 (then R2 ~135.59). With price sitting between close support and resistance and momentum cooling, the setup looks more “stalling/mean-reversion” than “fresh breakout.”
Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals:
**Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals**
- [AI Stock Picker](module://ai_stock_pick): No signal on given stock today.
- [SwingMax](module://swingmax): No signal on given stock today.
Options Data
Bearish
Open Interest Put-Call Ratio
Bullish
Option Volume Put-Call Ratio
Sentiment read: Open Interest Put/Call ratio of 4.72 is strongly put-skewed, which commonly reflects defensive positioning/hedging and is not a clean bullish sentiment signal.
Activity/volatility: Implied vol (30D) ~21.87 vs historical vol ~14.46, with IV percentile 72—options are priced relatively expensive vs the stock’s realized movement. Volume is extremely light (today volume 5; put volume 5; call volume 0), so the skew is driven more by existing positioning than fresh high-conviction trading today.
Takeaway: Options positioning leans cautious-to-bearish, and the lack of call activity does not support a strong “buy now” read.
Technical Summary
Sell
2
Buy
7
Positive Catalysts
Potential upside to Morgan Stanley’s bullish view: MS maintains Overweight and recently raised its target to $146, tied to broader utility growth themes (e.g., load growth/data centers) that could benefit regulated utilities.
Earnings catalyst ahead: QDEC 2025 earnings scheduled 2026-02-19 (pre-market). A beat or strong forward commentary on load growth/capex/regulatory outcomes could re-rate shares.
Profitability trend: In 2025/Q3, net income (+9.53% YoY) and EPS (+6.60% YoY) grew despite slightly lower revenue, showing earnings resilience.
Neutral/Negative Catalysts
Valuation/risk-reward concern from a major bank: Wells Fargo downgraded to Underweight with a $118 target (materially below $132.35), citing premium valuation vs peers and less compelling risk-reward at current levels.
Momentum cooling: MACD is still positive but contracting; the stock is sitting near pivot/resistance zones, which can invite pullbacks.
Options skew: Very high put open interest relative to calls suggests defensive positioning.
No supportive near-term news flow: No positive news catalysts surfaced in the last week to counterbalance the downgrade/valuation narrative.
Financial Performance
Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3.
Revenue: $524.417M, down -0.78% YoY (slight contraction).
Net income: $124.437M, up +9.53% YoY (solid growth).
EPS: $2.26, up +6.60% YoY (healthy).
Gross margin: 50.28%, down -6.46% YoY (margin compression).
Summary: Earnings held up well, but top-line growth is muted and margins weakened—fine for a defensive utility, but not a strong “pay up today” growth profile.
Growth
Profitability
Efficiency
Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends
Recent trend: Mixed and more volatile than usual.
- Bullish: Morgan Stanley upgraded to Overweight (2025-12-16) and then raised its price target again to $146 (2026-01-21).
- Bearish: Wells Fargo downgraded to Underweight (2026-01-20) with a $118 target, explicitly flagging premium valuation and weaker relative competitiveness.
- Neutral: UBS kept Neutral and trimmed target to $129 (2025-12-17).
Wall Street pros view (bull case): Stable regulated utility with potential load-growth/capex upside; MS sees sector tailwinds.
Wall Street cons view (bear case): Shares appear priced at a premium vs peers with forward growth normalizing; Wells Fargo sees unfavorable risk-reward from here.
Influential/political trading: No recent congress trading data available; hedge funds and insiders are reported Neutral with no significant recent trend.
Wall Street analysts forecast IDA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for IDA is 142.17 USD with a low forecast of 129 USD and a high forecast of 157 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
6 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast IDA stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for IDA is 142.17 USD with a low forecast of 129 USD and a high forecast of 157 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
4 Buy
2 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 132.350
Low
129
Averages
142.17
High
157
Current: 132.350
Low
129
Averages
142.17
High
157
Morgan Stanley
David Arcaro
Overweight
maintain
$139 -> $146
AI Analysis
2026-01-21
Reason
Morgan Stanley
David Arcaro
Price Target
$139 -> $146
AI Analysis
2026-01-21
maintain
Overweight
Reason
Morgan Stanley analyst David Arcaro raised the firm's price target on Idacorp to $146 from $139 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm is updating its Regulated & Diversified Utilities / IPPs in North America under its coverage, noting utilities underperformed the S&P's return in December, the analyst tells investors.
Wells Fargo
Equal Weight -> Underweight
downgrade
$118
2026-01-20
Reason
Wells Fargo
Price Target
$118
2026-01-20
downgrade
Equal Weight -> Underweight
Reason
Wells Fargo downgraded Idacorp to Underweight from Equal Weight with an $118 price target.
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