Nuclear waste management is quickly becoming a hot topic both on Wall Street and Capitol Hill.
In late February, the government affairs arm of the nuclear industry called for President Barack Obama to convene a blue ribbon nuclear waste commission, a move that could be a first step toward forming alternatives to burying radioactive power plant fuel at Yucca Mountain, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The idea of forming a blue ribbon commission has been floating quietly around Washington for several months as Obama during the presidential campaign and Steven Chu, his energy secretary, have said it is necessary to revisit the management and disposal of used nuclear fuel currently stored at power plant sites.
Late last week, Chu said he, not Congress, will establish a blue-ribbon commission to develop a new strategy for managing the country’s nuclear waste.
This could be good news for our Buzz Stock of the Day, Perma-Fix Environmental Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: PESI).
The company’s expansive portfolio of nuclear waste treatment includes radioactive and mixed waste treatment services for hospitals, research labs and institutions, federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and nuclear utilities.
Perma-Fix CEO, Dr. Louis Centofanti recently stated that he was “optimistic that Perma-Fix will be a beneficiary of the stimulus plan,” which allocates more than $6 billion for nuclear waste clean-up throughout the Department of Energy’s complex. “In addition, the DOE fiscal 2009 annual budget has been increased to $6.4 billion, from $5.2 billion in fiscal 2008. “
The company’s fourth-quarter revenue was up 46 percent to $23.5 million, from $16.1 million a year ago. Perma-Fix generated EBITDA of $2.2 million, and net profit of $725,000, or a penny a share.
Shares of PESI trade at about 50 percent of their 52-week high, and are down about 11 percent over the past 52-weeks — substantially less than the S&P 500 and many of the company’s much larger competitors including American Ecology Corp. (Nasdaq: ECOL) and URS Corp. (NYSE: URS).
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