Gabelli’s analyst report said, “We find Cameco particularly compelling given its attractive asset base and project development pipeline. The gradual restarting of nuclear reactors in Japan as well as China resuming the issuance of new reactor build licenses are potential near-term catalysts for CCJ.”

Another boost is that Japan’s Trade Minister recently declared that the #3 and #4 reactors at Kansai Electric Power Company’s Ohi nuclear power plant in western Japan are now safe to restart after passing safety inspections. Apparently the next step to restarting the reactors is to get public support and approval from local communities near the reactors.

Gabelli finishes with the call for roughly 50% upside with an attractive valuation of 8.7-times the Gabelli 2012 EBITDA estimate.  It also trades at a 37% discount to the firm’s 2013 Private Market Value of $32.00 per share.  It is often that these private market values are much higher than the consensus price targets from other analysts but that is just not the case here.

JON C. OGG

Cameco has announced that it will not raise its CDN$4.50/share bid for Hathor and will allow its offer to lapse tomorrow. Rio topped Cameco’s offer last week, putting in a bid of CDN$4.70/share, valuing Hathor at CDN$654 million.

Today’s share price rise in the other junior miners is no doubt based on the belief that Cameco still wants to acquire additional uranium assets now that it has lost Hathor. Denison, for example, has a market cap of just over $500 million and may be a reasonable substitute if Cameco decides to continue shopping around.

The acquisition of Hathor comes at nearly the same time that Kazakhstan has taken over as the world’s leading uranium producer. The Central Asian country now produces about 33% of the world’s uranium, more than the second and third largest producers (Australia and Canada) combined. The country also plans to build new enrichment facilities in a partnership with France’s Areva SA (OTC: ARVCY) in an effort to move up the value chain.

Cameco is already producing uranium in a joint venture in Kazakhstan and is seeking a production increase of about 33%, which would raise its share of production from project to 2.9 million pounds of uranium. That might be enough to forestall future acquisition plans.

Today, though, Cameco shares are up 6%, at $17.66 and Rio shares are up nearly as much, at $49.10. Shares of Denison are up more than 6.5%, at $1.30, in a 52-week range of $0.81-$4.52. Shares of Uranerz are up 12.75%, at $1.73, in a 52-week range of $0.87-$5.93 and shares of Uranium Resources are up 6.3%, at $0.85, in a 52-week range of $0.52-$3.98.

Paul Ausick

As is typical in a bidding war, competitor companies are also garnering some interest from the back-and-forth between Rio and Cameco as investors figure that the value of all uranium miners might rise. Uranium miners Denison Mines Corp. (AMEX: DNN), Uranerz Energy Corp. (AMEX: URZ), and Uranium Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: URRE) have all gotten a boost from the bidding, but perhaps not as much as might be expected.

Cameco originally offered C$3.75/share in cash for Hathor only to see Rio come in a few weeks later with an all-cash offer of C$4.15/share. Cameco raised its offer to C$.4.50 earlier this week, and now Rio has come back with an offer of C$4.59.

Denison, Uranerz, and Uranium Resources all saw share prices fall from the time of Cameco’s original offer on September 1st, bottoming out in early October. The shares got a bit of a boost when Rio’s offer was announced in mid-October, but shares of all three are still trading down from their levels of September 1st.

Uranium prices hit a peak of more than $70/pound in February, and have since fallen to around $55/pound. The disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the earthquake and tsunami in March and the subsequent decision by Germany to retire all its nuclear power plants has weighed on both nuclear plant builders and uranium miners.

Cameco, the world’s largest uranium miner, has experienced a near -50% drop in its share price since early March, largely as fallout from the immediate closure of 14 nuclear generation plants in Japan and Germany. Mining costs are also rising, putting even more pressure on profits.

The outlook for uranium demand is not very strong either. While it’s true that there are many new plants under construction, delays due to more regulatory reviews are being anticipated, even in China and India where construction has been growing.

The other impact of the current low price for uranium is that it stalls new mining projects. If demand picks up over the next several years, supply is likely to be weak due to cancellation of new projects.

That’s largely the reason that Hathor is worth the fight. The company is sitting on reserves that are estimated to be able to produce up to 5 million pounds of uranium annually. And regardless of a possible slowdown in production, uranium miners expect China’s nuclear building program to proceed as planned. Chinese demand is expected to grow, as is India’s, and Hathor’s uranium is already being produced and there’s plenty more to dig out.

There’s no doubt that Rio has deeper pockets than Cameco, and Rio’s latest offer totals about C$654 million. But Cameco has about $1.2 billion in cash and short-term investments in its war chest, so the battle may not be over quite yet.

Paul Ausick

The impact on uranium mining companies large and small could be dramatic if more countries follow Germany’s lead and reject nuclear generation completely. Even China has adopted a more ‘slow-go’ approach to nuclear generation. Mining companies include Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ), Denison Mines Corp. (AMEX: DNN), Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: URRE), Uranerz Energy Corp. (AMEX: URZ), Uranium Energy Corp. (AMEX: UEC), UR-Energy, Inc. and (AMEX: URG). USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) processes uranium into a low-enriched form, and General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and Shaw Group, Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) are leading builders and servicers of nuclear power plants. France’s Areva (OTC: ARVCY), and Japan’s Toshiba Corp. (OTC: TOSBF) are also among the world’s leading builders of nuclear power plants but are excluded because comparable information for the companies is not available.

One interesting sideshow that could impact all the uranium miners is the current bidding war between Cameco and Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) for Canadian junior mining company Hathor Exploration Ltd. Hathor is expected to take the Rio Tinto offer, leaving Cameco to shop for other uranium assets, most likely among the small miners we’re looked at here.

All data from Yahoo! Finance and MarketWatch, and current price quotes were gathered just before noon today.

Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ) has a median target price of $31.10 from 8 brokers. Shares are trading today at $20.34, for an implied gain of $10.76, or 53%. Cameco’s forward P/E is 14.97 and the company pays a dividend yield of 1.8%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $16.68-$44.81, and at today’s price that’s about 22% above its 52-week low and 55% below the 52-week high. Cameco is the world’s largest uranium miner, and falling uranium prices have hit the company hard since prices hit a peak in January of around $72/pound. Uranium now sells for about $52/pound, a drop of -28%, and that drop has been exacerbated by lower demand. Falling demand and price have had even harsher impacts on the smaller uranium miners. At this time, Cameco does not expect the rest of the world to follow the Japanese and German governments’ restrictions on nuclear energy.

Denison Mines Corp. (AMEX: DNN) has a median target price of $2.21 from 7 brokers. Shares are trading today at $1.49, for an implied gain of $0.72, or 48%. Denison’s forward P/E is negative and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $0.81-$4.52, and at today’s price that’s about 84% above its 52-week low and 67% below the 52-week high. Denison sold just 167,000 pounds of uranium in the third quarter, compared with 706,000 pounds in the same period a year ago. That cost the company nearly $3 million in revenues, and total revenues were less than half those of a year ago.

Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ: URRE) has a median target price of $5.00 from a single broker. Shares are trading today at $1.10, for an implied gain of $3.90, or 355%. Uranium Resources’ forward P/E is negative and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $0.52-$3.98, and at today’s price that’s about 112% above its 52-week low and 72% below the 52-week high. The company reports earnings on Monday, but even the single broker with a target price can’t be bothered to offer estimated results for the company. The implied gains here are strictly fantasy.

Uranerz Energy Corp. (AMEX: URZ) has a median target price of $5.49 from 3 brokers. Shares are trading today at $2.04, for an implied gain of $3.45, or 169%. Uranerz’s forward P/E is 12.22 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.17-$5.93, and at today’s price that’s about 74% above its 52-week low and 66% below the 52-week high. Uranerz, like Uranium Resources, sports a stupendously high implied gain because it is so weak. These two might be prime candidates for the loser in the bidding war over Hathor.

Uranium Energy Corp. (AMEX: UEC) has a median target price of $4.98 from 6 brokers. Shares are trading today at $3.14, for an implied gain of $1.84, or 59%. Uranium Energy’s forward P/E is 2.78 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $2.20-$7.48, and at today’s price that’s about 43% above its 52-week low and 58% below the 52-week high. Uranium Energy just committed to pay about $85,000 in cash and about $940,000 in restricted stock at today’s price for a uranium mining project in Arizona. That sent the share price down slightly, which is probably less than should have happened.

UR-Energy, Inc. and (AMEX: URG) has a median target price of $2.37 from a single broker. Shares are trading today at $1.10, for an implied gain of $1.27, or 115%. UR-Energy’s forward P/E is negative and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $0.75-$3.37, and at today’s price that’s about 47% above its 52-week low and 67% below the 52-week high. UR-Energy does not yet produce anything, as its Wyoming mine is still in development. The company has spent a total of about $116 million since 2004, and is looking to begin production in the second quarter of 2013. It’s anyone’s guess what the price of uranium will be then.

USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) has a median target price of $3.38 from 2 brokers. Shares are trading today at $1.91, for an implied gain of $1.47, or 77%. USEC’s forward P/E is 10.11 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $1.17-$6.35, and at today’s price that’s about 63% above its 52-week low and 70% below the 52-week high. USEC mailed notices to its 450 centrifuge workers in late October informing them that the company may begin laying off workers in the first two weeks of November. When it released third-quarter earnings last week, the company posted a smaller-than-expected EPS loss, but missed revenues by a mile.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has a median target price of $20.00 from 14 brokers. Shares are trading today at $16.32, for an implied gain of $3.68, or 23%. GE’s forward P/E is 10.39 and the company pays a dividend yield of 3.7%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $14.02-$21.65, and at today’s price that’s about 16% above its 52-week low and 25% below the 52-week high. GE doesn’t specify exactly what part of its revenues come from nuclear plants, but it maintains partnerships with Japan’s Hitachi and Toshiba for building and servicing nuclear plants around the world.

Shaw Group, Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) has a median target price of $27.00 from 13 brokers. Shares are trading today at $24.21, for an implied gain of $2.79, or 12%. Shaw’s forward P/E is 9.46 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $18.98-$41.62, and at today’s price that’s about 28% above its 52-week low and 42% below the 52-week high. Known primarily as a heavy construction company, Shaw owns a piece of Toshiba’s nuclear operations in both the US and the UK, as well as a 20% stake in Toshiba’s Westinghouse nuclear operations. The company is building  four nuclear units in the US and holds a services contract on four more new plants in China. For the fiscal year ended in October, Shaw’s nuclear work helped cover revenue shortfalls in coal plants.

Paul Ausick

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 85 points to 12,068.39 (0.71%), the NASDAQ rose more than 9 points (0.34%) to 2,695.25, and the S&P 500 rose 0.63% or nearly 8 points to 1,261.12.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) cut to ‘market perform’ at William Blair. Other changes included Alcatel-Lucent SA cut to ‘sell’ at Citigroup; Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) raised to ‘buy’ at Citigroup; VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE: PAY) started at ‘buy’ at Citigroupl; YRC Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) maintained at ‘underperform’ with a price target of $0.05 at Credit Suisse; and Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) started at ‘buy’ at Benchmark.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Tesco Corp. (NASDAQ: TESO) is down about -18%, at $13.34; BroadSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: BSFT) is down less than -0.5%%, at $36.28; Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ) is down nearly -7%, at $20.00; Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. (NYSE: CDE) is up nearly 8%, at $29.42; Quicksilver Resources Inc. (NYSE: KWK) is down more than -9%, at $7.62; and Nordic American Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: NAT) is down nearly -4%, at $13.64.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Force Protection, Inc. (NASDAQ: FRPT) is up more than 30%, at $5.50. The armored truck maker is being acquired by General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD for $5.52/share in a deal worth $360 million.

American Dental Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADPI) is up nearly 79%, to $18.57. The company is being acquired by a private equity firm for $317 million, or $19/share, an 83% premium to Friday’s closing price.

Tekelec (NASDAQ: TKLC) is up more than 13%, at $11.20. The telecom equipment maker is being acquired by a private equity firm for about $760 million.

OmniVision Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI) is down nearly -18%, at $14.23. The company revised its outlook to include a sharp drop in fourth-quarter revenues. Shares are down about -50% since the beginning of the calendar year.

Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) is down about -15.5%, at $39.21, after posting a new 52-week low of $38.45 earlier in the day. The company’s stock continues to get beaten up due to a delay in its acquisition of the Pringles business from Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and an investigation into payments to walnut growers.

Stay tuned for Tuesday. Philadelphia Federal Reserve president Charles Plosser is giving a speech in the morning and Minneapolis Federal Reserve president Narayana Kocherlakota gives a speech in the afternoon. We have noted the following events (all times Eastern):

• 7:45 a.m. – International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs same-store sales
• 8:55 a.m. – Redbook weekly report on retail sales
• 1:00 p.m. – US Treasury 3-year note auction

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Paul Ausick

The current picks are Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ), Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN), Southwest Gas Corporation (NYSE: SWX), Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA), and Xylem Inc. (NYSE: XYL).  Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is not on the list after it was removed as the only repeat stock of the prior quarter on the list.  We would note that Gabelli is generally much higher than the consensus analyst targets from Thomson Reuters and Gabelli’s FOCUS FIVE upside targets range from gains of 34.5% to as much as 63%.

In the FOCUS FIVE list, Gabelli often looks for what would be considered special situations, or undervalued opportunities based upon not-yet finalized information.  Some are very speculative in nature, while some are not so speculative.  In most cases, many investors follow the Gabelli team because they are often looking for mergers and acquisitions or some other special situation that the market may still be discounting.

We have included price information, a summary of the call, shown the 2011 earnings estimates, and shown the Gabelli “private market value.”  We also gave upside price targets comparisons for the Gabelli target versus a Thomson Reuters consensus price objective target as well as what the “PMV” has for upside. 

Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ) is at $21.43 and Gabelli wants to know if China will restart its nuclear efforts.  The uranium producer is said to be on track to double its uranium production to 40mm pounds by 2018.  A focus on China is here because it may restart issuing new nuclear reactor licenses after having suspended them in the wake of the Fukushima, Japan incident. 

Gabelli believes that China will likely start giving out new licenses in late 2011 to early 2012.  Gabelli sees $1.20 EPS in 2011 and has a private market value of $35.00 for Cameco.  As this is a higher-risk scenario, Gabelli’s implied upside is over 63%.

Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN) is at $14.14 and Gabelli noted the recent quarterly earnings showed sequential improvement in the Commercial Driveline segment with 60bps of sequential margin expansion, despite commodity headwinds. Gabelli also noted 12% EBITDA margin within the segment.  Another focus was Dana’s “optimal position to benefit from a global light and commercial vehicle growth” and it concluded that management has a strategy to “continue improving internal operations and enhancing margins.” 

The Gabelli private market value is $23.00 for Dana, a bit higher than the $21.31 consensus target provided by Thomson Reuters. If Gabelli’s target gets hit then there is 58.5% upside in Dana.

AETNA Inc. (NYSE: AET) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) Raised to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCJ) Reiterated Neutral at BofA/ML.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
CIGNA Corporation (NYSE: CI) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (NYSE: DPS) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.
Pepsico Inc. (NYSE: PEP) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Philip Morris International, Inc. (NYSE: PM) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Started as Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Maintained Sell at Auriga; Cut to Hold at ThinkEquity.
Unitedhealth Group, Inc. (NYSE: UNH) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Word from Canada, and Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ), was not so encouraging. The company is the world’s leading uranium producer, and the disaster in Japan, which didn’t really affect quarterly results, could result in lower sales. But Cameco did increased its 2011 forecast revenue growth from 5% to 10% above 2010 revenue, with uranium sales and fuel services the growth drivers. Unfortunately, the company had previously forecast growth of 15%-20% year-over-year. The change is based on currency exchange rate projections, for an even exchange between the US and Canadian dollars, to a 5% stronger Canadian dollar.

Worldwide uranium production in 2010 reached nearly 54,000 metric tons, about one sixth of which came from Canada. Demand is expected to grow by about 6% annually as new nuclear plants are built between now and 2020. About 26% of nuclear fuel is made from government stockpiles or decommissioned Soviet nuclear warheads. By 2020 that number will fall by half, meaning the growth will be even stronger. In addition to Cameco, France’s Areva, and Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RIO) are major producers of uranium.

Uranium prices, according to Cameco, are projected at $70/pound, up from $55.25/pound currently. Many observers expect prices to rise even higher as demand, particularly from new nuclear plants in China, come online.

Heavy flooding along the lower Mississippi River probably can’t be avoided this spring, even if the rains stop. Heavy rain upstream is slowly flowing south, threatening more flooding along the river.

But the big water flowing downstream is not having any impact on corn futures, which are falling again today on some hangover from yesterday’s clearance sale on commodity futures. But, as always, traders will be watching the weather for clues to the size of harvests, and wet weather is expected to keep crop plantings down for at least a few more days. Some areas of Iowa and Nebraska could actually get all their planting finished by this weekend.

Corn stockpiles are expected to dwindle this summer and the expected size of the fall harvest will have a large impact on corn futures. Prices are down -$0.25 again today, at $6.84/bushel. But the drop probably has more to do with technical issues than fundamentals. At best, this year, corn is likely to just meet demand. Any unexpected weather event could toss the whole market into an uproar. The Teucrium Corn Fund (NYSE: CORN) is off about -1.8%, at $42.91, within a 52-week range of $23.79-$48.77.

Gold has staged a bit of a comeback today, trading at $1,485.20 shortly before the market closes. The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) is up about 1.5%, to $145.70, in a 52-week range of $113.08-$153.61.

Silver futures are down another -3% today, at $35.14. However, the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) is trading up about 2.5%, at $34.55, in a 52-week range of $16.91-$48.35.

WTI crude oil is also back below $100/barrel, after climbing back above $102/barrel earlier today.

Paul Ausick

The initial impact fell hardest on uranium miners. Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ) shares fell more than 25% in less than a week before regaining some ground this week. As a group, the uranium miners see the nuclear crisis in Japan as a temporary phenomenon that might last a few months, but all expect the demand for uranium to be strong through the rest of 2011.

The head of Australia’s Paladin Energy Ltd. (OTC: PALAF) expects prices to increase over the next three months, citing shortages that have not gone away as a result of the Japanese accident.

Not everyone shares their rosy outlook. In the UK, a poll sponsored by Friends of the Earth showed that 37% of Britons are now more likely to oppose new nuclear power plants.  Nearly half those surveyed expressed worry about the safety of nuclear plants. Less than 10% of those surveyed think nuclear energy should be a priority in the next several years, while 75% believe investments in renewable sources or increased efficiency should be the UK’s investment priority.

Spain’s minister of industry has developed a “concrete plan” for the European Union that would increase the focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, alter the continent’s carbon policies, provide for more interconnection among European energy networks, and offer support for electric cars.

While it is especially comforting now to think that nuclear power generation could slowly disappear, the truth is that, like hydrocarbons, there is no power generation source currently capable of replacing nukes. That does not mean that renewable sources can’t be found; it means only that eliminating nuclear generation, like eliminating hydrocarbons, requires a coherent, attainable, long-term energy policy with a clear path for the next 50-75 years.

A couple of recently announced solar projects deserve mention today as well. First is a concentrating photovoltaic, or CPV, project for India’s Tata Power, which will be constructed by Australia’s Sunengy. The CPV liquid solar array consists of a small number of solar cells mounted behind a Fresnel lens and floating on the surface of a reservoir.  CPV technology, though not floating, will also be installed at a 150-megawatt project in southern California by a company called Soitec.

Wind power also made the news with the beginning of construction of a 5-megawatt turbine that is more than 360 feet from blade tip to blade tip to be installed offshore Britain in the Ormonde Offshore Wind Farm. Sweden’s Vattenfall is building the plant.

In biofuels, European bioethanol producers are nearing a decision on whether or not to file a complaint with the European Commission over US subsidies to ethanol imported into Europe. The US gives ethanol makers like Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) a $0.45/gallon tax credit that lowers the price for ethanol exported to Europe. Some European ethanol producers are also pressing the European Commission to re-classify bioethanol as an agricultural import, which would automatically jack up the price of imported ethanol in Europe by about 40%.

Paul Ausick

To show just how bad the market has been even to utilities, the leading ETF is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLU) and its shares have fallen 4.6% since Friday closing Wednesday at $30.99 with a 52-week range of $25.76 to $32.89.  We did of course not cover every single utility with nuclear power, but our coverage below accounts for a combined market capitalization rate of more than $100 billion.  Our review focused on Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE), Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG), Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR), Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE: PGN) and Southern Company (NYSE: SO).

We broke out how much each of the partial US nuclear energy complex has fallen since Friday, what the 52-week range is, what the market caps are, and which are some of the listed nuclear properties which we took from the U.S. Nuclear Energy Institute.

Ameren Corporation (NYSE: AEE) is down only about 3.5% since Friday with shares at $26.79; 52-week range is $23.09 to $29.89 and its market cap is $6.4 billion. Nuclear properties include Callaway.

Constellation Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE: CEG) is down about 6% since Friday with shares at $30.30; 52-week trading range is $27.64 to $38.73 and its market cap is roughly $6 billion.  Nuclear properties include Calvert Cliffs, Ginna, and Nine Mile Point.

Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) is down almost 9.5% since Friday with shares at $66.65; its 52-week trading range is $66.31 (hit today) to $84.33 and its market cap is about $12 billion.  Nuclear properties include Arkansas Nuke 1 & 2, Grand Gulf, Indian Point, James A. Fitzpatrick, Palisades, and River Bend.

Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC) is down almost 7% since Friday with shares at $39.95; its 52-week trading range is $16.78 to $45.56 and its market cap is $26.5 billion. Nuclear properties include Braidwood, Bryon, Clinton, Dresden, La Salle, Limerick, Oyster Creek, Peach Bottom, Quad Cities, Salem, and Three Mile Island.

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) down almost 6% since Friday with shares at $36.59; 52-week range is $33.57 to $40.80 and its market cap is $11.2 billion.  Nuclear properties include Beaver Valley and Perry.

Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE: PGN) is down ‘only’ almost 4% since Friday with shares at $44.55; 52-week trading range is $37.13 to $46.83 and the market cap is about $13.1 billion.  Nuclear properties include Brunswick, Crystal River, H.B. Robinson, and Shearon Harris.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is down close to 4% since Friday with shares at $36.80; 52-week range is $32.04 to $38.79 and its market cap is close to $31 billion.  Nuclear properties include E.I. Hatch, J.M. Farley and Vogtle.

Many of these plants have switch-over capabilities, but there is one thing to consider here.  Despite these plants being old, shutting these plants down in any short order is just not likely in the cards barring maintenance or other disasters.  Switching to fossil fuels is also a much more costly initiative for consumers.

What seems to be at issue is that newer regulations would come with a higher cost of securing and operating “safe nukes” if there is such a real term.  Our take is that nuclear expenses will rise as a result, but the future demand damage of uranium may make the fuel cheaper ahead and any higher regulatory and security costs that the plants take on will probably be passed down to Joe America.

JON C. OGG