shares of nrg energy inc nrg shot up 60 in afternoon trading monday enough to pace the sp 500’s spx advancers after bofa securities turned bullish on the fossil and nuclear fuel production company citing valuation in the wake of the closing of the vivint smart home inc acquisition and improvement in retail fundamentals bofa analysts julien dumoulinsmith and paul zimbardo raised their rating on nrg to buy from neutral and lifted the stock price target to 39 from 35 after the 52 billion vivint deal closed on march 10 the stock closed at a 2 12year low on march 15 bofa analysts said while they didn’t view the vivint deal as the optimal use of the company’s capital “there are opportunities to create incremental value via stronger cost control and crossselling to nrg retail brands that are less price sensitive” they also believe investors have overlooked the earnings power of nrg’s nuclear plus texascentric retail business” the stock has dropped 120 over the past 12 months while the utilities select sector spdr exchangetraded fund xlu has lost 55 and the sp 500 has declined 116