** Technology-driven energy and water resource management firm Itron's ITRI.O shares down 1.7% before the bell to $97.81 after planned capital raise news
** Liberty Lake, Washington-based firm announces private offering of $600 mln convertible bonds $(CB)$ due 2032
** Co intends to use net offering proceeds to repay its 0% CBs due 2026
** It also plans to use up to $125 mln of proceeds to repurchase its stock to facilitate hedging, and to use proceeds to pay cost of capped calls, transactions employed to mitigate dilution
** ITRI has ~$4.5 bln market cap
** Co last week posted Q4 top and bottom-line beat, and said adoption of its Grid Edge intelligence platform drove strong results
** Through Fri close, stock up 7% YTD. Still, stock is ~30% below record intraday high of $142 hit in late Oct
** 11 of 13 analysts rate the stock "strong buy" or "buy", 2 "hold"; median PT $143.12, LSEG data reflects
(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)
((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))
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