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To: Madharry who wrote (5551)12/24/1998 12:56:00 AM
From: James Clarke  Respond to of 78708
 
re: USEC

<<I am very concerned about the situation in Russia and i would like to know what impact a serious crisis would have on the operations of the company and its performance. Is the company dependent upon Russia to furnish it with raw materials? If Russia were unable to produce/and export uranioum what would be the impact?>>

USEC has a contract with the Russians to buy their enriched uranium. USEC does nothing with it except resell it. The US government set that up to make sure they don't sell it to Iranians, North Koreans or investors in internet stocks...This is low-margin business for USEC and they would LOVE to get rid of it. USEC is operating its factories way under capacity because it is obligated to take this high cost Russian material. In that sense, if Russia stopped exporting it, it would be great for USEC.

But its not that simple. If the Russia-USEC contract fell apart and Russia dumps the stuff on the world market, that would be bad. Not as bad as you might think because USEC's customers are under long term contracts, but its not something you want to happen if you own USEC.

To answer your question directly - USEC is absolutely not dependent on Russian raw materials. I can see how you would get that misunderanding. The situation is exactly the opposite - USEC wishes Russia and its nuclear material would disappear tomorrow.

Below 16 I consider USEC a very good long term buy. I paid 14 1/4. The stock is now at 13 1/4. The dividend yield is over 8%. If you go back in the archives to about July 20 you will find a very thorough discussion of USEC which there is no need to revisit now since it is on the record and still very pertinent.

Jim



To: Madharry who wrote (5551)12/24/1998 1:29:00 PM
From: Michael Burry  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 78708
 
I was about to say exactly what Jim said about USEC. This stock
is so incredibly misunderstood by even sophisticated investors (when
I talked to Rich Dalman portfolio manager and US equity chief at
Salomon, he seemed to be about on par with the Yahoo thread
participants in his understanding of it) that it almost by definition has
to be undervalued. James is absolutely correct - USEC would love to
get rid of the whole Russian deal IF it weren't for the potential
instability that would be either the cause or the result of dissolution
of the agreement. As my USEC contact put it, "We don't like it, but
it is in our interests not to introduce wild cards into the world uranium
market."

My story on USEC is still up on the Microsoft Investor if you search
my name under authors.

Armin, do you care to elaborate on UBB for the thread? I know it's
been a favorite of yours for a while, and maybe you could break
down why you like it so much versus other emerging market
banks.

Mike