Investopedia: Can EnergySolutions Drive Value From Scarce Assets?

Usually, scarcity means value in the equity markets. Unfortunately, anything relating to the nuclear power sector in the U.S. is colored with risk and uncertainty, and small engineering services firm EnergySolutions (NYSE:ES) has had trouble leveraging its expertise and assets in nuclear decommissioning. Although budgets and schedules are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, it would seem that the valuation on this stock has factored in quite a lot of bad news already.

Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget  
The biggest project at present for EnergySolutions is the decommissioning of Exelon's (NYSE:EXC) Zion plant. Although there were fears that the early margins on this project would be weak, overall results have not been bad at all so far. More to the point, as of early 2012, it looks like this project is on target or better, and the company is working to renegotiate a cumbersome letter of credit. (For related reading, see Analyzing Operating Margins.)

Please click here for more:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2012/Can-EnergySolutions-Drive-Value-From-Scarce-Assets-ES-EXC-FLR-GE-SHAW0215.aspx

Investopedia: Industry At A Glance - Pay TV

On the surface it may not seem like there would be much growth left in the U.S. pay TV market. Penetration rates are already north of 90% and most Americans consider cable (or satellite) TV service to be just as much a necessity as electricity or gas. Moreover, with the decline of dial-up, pay TV carriers also provide the entryway to Internet access for most people in this country.

And yet, that doesn't mean that there isn't growth potential or vibrant competition. Satellite providers, cable TV providers and phone companies are stepping up their battle to offer more or less the same services to the same customer base. What's more, alternate online options are reducing some of the distribution power of this sector, while more and more distributors also see themselves as content providers. Oh, and there's this tech company called Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) that may have some ideas of its own about how TV service should look in the future.


Read the full article by clicking below:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Industry-At-A-Glance--Pay-TV-CMCSA-DTV-DISH-CVC-VMED-LNET-KNOL0830.aspx

Investopedia: Is Europe Abandoning The Atom?

With news out of Switzerland and Germany last week, it looks as though the long-term energy picture in Europe is changing in a hurry. Germany and Switzerland, two of the world's largest economies, have both announced plans to completely phase out nuclear power as an electricity source, leaving the question of how these countries will fill the power gap without choking off their economies. 


Not surprisingly, solar and wind power stocks rose on the news, but only time will tell if the companies in these markets can increase their efficiency fast enough to become viable cornerstone sources of power. In the meantime, the decisions in Germany and Switzerland are likely to ripple through the power generation market for years to come.

The Scale of the Decision
In relatively short order, both Switzerland and Germany have decided to abandon nuclear power as an ongoing source of electricity. While nuclear power has been a touchy subject throughout most of Europe for some time (especially after the Chernobyl disaster), protests accelerated in the wake of Japan's combined natural disasters and TEPCO's inability to avert serious problems at the Fukushima facility. 



To read the full piece, please continue below:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Is-Europe-Abandoning-The-Atom-FSLR-KYO-STP-AMSC-SI0606.aspx

Investopedia: Nuclear Energy - The Emotion Trade Is In Full Swing

There are plenty of old sayings that advise investors to swim against the tide and invest into troubled sectors when pessimism is at its worst. That is all well and good, but precious few investors have the self-confidence and long-term focus to just ignore a 20% or 30% near-term loss on a new position. With that in mind, then, investors should certainly do their due diligence on now-troubled nuclear power stocks but let the dust settle a bit before taking on new positions.

Shoot First, Ask Questions Later
In the wake of the combined earthquake and tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan, and the resulting emergencies at multiple nuclear facilities in Japan, public fear about nuclear power is once again running high. With activists already jumping on their airwaves to exaggerate and misinform, it seems inevitable that the nuclear industry has lost whatever momentum and credibility it had rebuilt in the 25 years since the Chernobyl disaster.

Investors need go no further than the stocks of those companies exposed to the nuclear power industry. Go-to names like uranium miners Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) and Denison (AMEX: DNN) and engineering and construction firm Shaw (Nasdaq:SHAW) were among those that took a significant drop in the early trading after the disaster struck. Since then, even well-diversified names like General Electric (NYSE:GE) (which has some, but not a lot, of nuclear energy exposure) have come under selling pressure.

Please continue:
http://stocks.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/2011/Nuclear-Energy---The-Emotion-Trade-Is-In-Full-Swing-CCJ-DNN-SHAW-EXC-GE-JASO-ES0317.aspx