A court in the US has unblocked a key Orsted project. Shares in the Danish energy giant soared
Curtailing the almost-completed Revolution Wind wind farm project offshore the US would have resulted in more than $3 billion in losses for Orsted
Shares in Danish energy company Orsted soared after a U.S. court victory against Donald Trump's administration / Photo: Shutterstock.com
Danish company Orsted, the world's largest operator of wind farms, has secured permission in a US court to continue construction of the almost completed Revolution Wind wind farm, despite opposition from the administration of US President Donald Trump. Quotes of the company reacted to the victory with growth of more than 6%.
Details
A ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will allow Orsted to immediately resume work on a wind farm off the northeast coast of the U.S. while the company continues to challenge in the courts both the Trump administration's suspension of the water lease agreement and the White House's earlier stop-work order, the Financial Times writes. Revolution Wind's readiness at the moment is almost 90%, the publication notes.
Orsted shares jumped 6.6 percent after the opening bell in Copenhagen, then the pace of growth slowed to about 4.7 percent.
What the analysts are saying
Sydbank analyst Jakob Pedersen estimated that canceling the Revolution Wind project would have resulted in losses for Orsted of about 20 billion Danish kroner ($3.1 billion), Reuters writes. Experts note that the court ruling gave hope for a favorable outcome for Orsted's larger project Sunrise Wind, and JPMorgan Chase pointed out that investors are probably already putting it into quotations, the agency said.
Aegir Insights analyst Signe Sorensen called the development "a key victory not only in terms of the likelihood that other projects will also be able to successfully challenge stop-work orders, but also because of the broader implication: the U.S. courts continue to function as a check-and-balance system for policy decisions." The courts remain "the only instance to which projects can turn to insulate themselves from the worst consequences of extreme politics," she added.
Against the background of Orsted's interim victory in court, investment bank Jefferies on January 13 reaffirmed its neutral rating for shares of the Danish energy company and a target price of 130 kroner ($20.3) per paper. According to MarketScreener, the consensus of 25 analysts on Orsted shares is "above market" (Outperform, corresponding to a buy recommendation). The target price of 139 kronor, calculated by the service, assumes growth of quotations by 9% to the closing price of trades on January 12.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
