Nuclear power supplier Entergy Corp – recent buy for Mark Holder’s model (ETR, CSX, WLP)

Covestor manager Mark Holder has over 15 years of investment experience and is a CPA. He believes that the best market opportunities arise from underfollowed or underappreciated ideas. Holder manages Covestor’s Net Payout Yields model, which

Invests in stocks with high Net Payout Yields, which is the combination of dividends and stock repurchases.

Current top holdings of this portfolio include CSX Corp (NYSE: CSX), Wellpoint (NYSE: WLP) and Home Depot (NYSE: HD). On March 29, Holder added to the portfolio Entergy Corp (NYSE: ETR), an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail electric distribution operations, with approximately 30,000 megawatt of aggregate electric generating capacity.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported:

Entergy Corp. ended a bid to sell its Vermont nuclear-power plant Wednesday after failing to find a buyer for the reactor, which may be required to shut down next year.

The second-largest U.S. nuclear-power generator put the Vermont Yankee plant up for sale last November amid strong opposition in Vermont to the facility operating for an additional 20 years. The reactor’s operating license expires in March 2012.

Richard Smith, President of ETR’s Wholesale Commodities unit had this to say:

Although we received interest from a number of companies, the conclusion of the sale process, without a sale, was driven primarily by the uncertain political environment in Vermont.

Rather than sell the plant outright, ETR announced that it had reached an agreement to sell power from the plant:

Entergy Corporation (NYSE:ETR – News) today announced Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC has completed negotiations on a 20-year agreement to sell power from the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant to customers of Vermont Electric Cooperative, Inc., the third-largest electric distribution utility in Vermont.

ETR closed up 1% on 3/30. Here’s its performance in the past year, via Google Finance:


Sources:
“Entergy Ends Effort to Sell Vermont Nuclear Plant” Naureen Malik. Wall Street Journal, 3/30. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576233323812666098.html
“Entergy, Vermont Electric Cooperative Complete Negotiations on Power Contract” Entergy Corporation, 3/30. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/Entergy-Vermont-Electric-prnews-2310657946.html?x=0&.v=1