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Gold/Mining/Energy : Enron - Natural Gas Industry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (178)	1/21/2000 7:09:00 PM
From: Sam Citron	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1433

Via Briefings: Enron Corp. (ENE) 71 5/8 +4 1/4: Another internet and broadband services provider. This integrated natural gas and electricity company represents how rapidly utility companies are changing to become more than just a provider of energy services. Instead, they are finding that through their already built-in infrastructure, they can also deliver more than just natural gas and electricity. Yesterday, Enron delivered a very upbeat outlook for 2000 that includes the utilization of the internet for providing transaction services and communication services through the development of an intelligent network platform. While Enron remains an integrated utility company, it demonstrates how more traditional companies are making use of newer technologies and tapping into newer markets to enhance existing assets. To be sure, Enron has been on a roll since unveiling its EnronOnline service in November of last year. Since the end of 1999, the stock is up more than 61%. For a utilities company, this is an exceptional price move as the company has also benefited from the higher trend in crude prices which has stimulated interest in the company's traditional exploration and production operations of natural gas and crude oil. But the price movement also reflects the new markets that Enron is beginning to enter and which have caught the interest of investors. Yesterday, the company outlined how it expects its wholesale energy operations and services to continue to experience strong growth in 2000, helped in part by the deregulation of power markets and continued outsourcing of services by utility companies and large energy consumers. Enron is also making use of the internet by utilizing EnronOnline to conduct additional wholesale incremental sales. Since its introduction in November of 1999, EnronOnline has achieved over 10,000 transactions, which the company points out, carry lower transaction processing costs than traditional transaction methods. The company is also experiencing strong business from its contracting retail energy services unit which is expected to have a very positive impact on 2000 earnings. And Enron is making greater inroads into the communications business through its offering of a "flexible global broadband network controlled by software intelligence, which precludes the need to invest in a traditional point-to-point fiber network." Eventually, Enron plans to offer a premium broadband content services that includes high-quality video-streaming and large broadband file transfers. News of the upbeat presentation and new developments has prompted Donaldson Lufkin, & Jenrette to raise its fiscal 2000 earnings per share estimate from $1.35 to $1.45 and its price target from $52 to $82. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch has upgraded the stock from a near-term "accumulate" to a "buy" with a 12-month price target of $95. Given Enron's growing communications business emphasis, Enron can no longer be viewed as just a utility company, but also a major internet and broadband services provider.