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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Senior who wrote (35008)	8/5/2009 4:49:18 PM
From: 16bit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78748

NOTE: Smart meters are being installed on behalf of CenterPoint Energy by employees of North Houston Pole Line. Installers, whose trucks bear the company name, should be able to provide badges identifying them as employees of North Houston Pole Line or CenterPoint Energy. centerpointenergy.com

To: Paul Senior who wrote (35008)	8/5/2009 6:43:51 PM
From: E_K_S	Respond to of 78748

Hi Paul From an earlier post on CNP and smart meters Message 25658310 It appears that Itron Inc. (ITRI) will supply the meters finance.yahoo.com and Google may help in providing the software and networking tools. Google Makes Utility & Smart METER Friends for Energy Tool PowerMeter Wed May 20, 2009 2:12am EDT reuters.com Itron is no bargain even if they were the big winner of such a contract as these meters are more commodity type products and should sell with a small gross margin (similar to cable boxes like the deal MOT has w/ Comcast). Their on going network service fees could be the big winner if they can maintain exclusive control over the networks they design and build for their utility partners. Itron develops proprietary meter equipment & networks that work using their Advaned Metering & Smart Grid design ( itron.com ). This provides them some protection from competing "open networks" but I suspect this is a barrier that Google wants to break . Itron is considered a leader in this niche market and emerging technology. Check out the list of their "Smart Grid" partners ( itron.com ). Analysts has them earning $3.22/share in 2010 which translate into a forward PE of 16. Google's development of PowerMeter could disrupt several of the proprietary designs Itron has developed, making Itron's future prospects cloudy at best. I guess I might be more tempted to buy into Google. Analysts have them earning $24.65 in 2010 (forward PE of 18). The Google product portfolio is much more diversified than Itron. The growth for Itron is limited to a niche market while Google's is boundless. Too bad I missed the opportunity for Google at $275 in Dec 2008 and now at $450 it's a hard one to out right buy. Because of their Smart Meter involvement, Google is one I am going to watch and on any sell off will try to force myself to pick up a few shares. EKS