fw : a positive note about enron . move over carly fiorina . . . : - )
- - - - - original message - - - - -
from : jaffry , adil
sent : thursday , october 04 , 2001 9 : 32 am
to : jafry , rahil
subject : fw : a positive note about enron .
fyi . . .
from cbs . marketwatch . com , online at :
attacks highlight enron ' s value
by lisa sanders
3 : 02 am et oct 4 , 2001
houston ( cbs . mw ) - - in the wake of the sept . 11 terrorist attacks , one
of the few places to buy or sell jet fuel was an online market
maintained by enron .
the attacks highlighted the houston company ' s strength as a manager of
risk during periods of heightened uncertainty . through its trading
centers , the company gives customers a way to hedge against volatility
in oil , natural gas , and electricity markets , as well as other
commodities .
although the company lost one employee aboard one of the hijacked
planes and closed its operations on the day of the attacks , its trading
activity resumed the next day .
by coming back online so fast , " we made the decision to provide some
stability in the market , " said vance meyer , an enron spokesman . " the
customers really appreciated the fact that we were there , providing a
place for them to maintain and adjust their positions in the market . "
in a financial sense , enron ( ene ) didn ' t suffer , meyer said . but
employees at the enron building in downtown houston were badly shaken .
nick humber , who worked for enron ' s wind energy business , died aboard a
los angeles bound flight that crashed into the world trade center .
" we have offices in washington and new york , and people who had friends
that died or were affected in some way , " meyer said " we also had traders
who were on the phone with people in the world trade center when the
planes hit . "
the decision to temporarily halt commodity trading on the new york
mercantile exchange in the wake of the attacks " may have increased
volatility , a boon to the group , " said bob christensen , analyst at
fac / equities . companies that can defray volatility by helping customers
manage their energy costs should be seeing a lot of business , he said .
managing risk is what enron does best , market players say . and that
strength should help the company going forward as u . s . businesses try to
recover from the impact of september 11 . through its enrononline
platform , the company buys and sells commodities at volumes totaling
about $ 3 billion a day , meyer said .
" the world at large has become more risk averse , and enron , which is in
the business of risk mitigation , should benefit from that , " said glen
hilton , senior analyst and portfolio manager for the montgomery new
power fund , which has a stake in enron . " with energy risk and prices
potentially going up , they ' ll be the first number on many cfos ' speed
dial . "
other companies do what enron does , but it ' s the best positioned to
succeed because of its status as the leader in natural gas and power
trading , measured in terms of volume . duke energy ( duk ) is the
next - largest competitor , but it has one - third of enron ' s volume .
high profile departure
that ' s a good place to be for a company whose stock price has been on
the skids since last year , though it grew 151 percent on the top line in
2000 . other problems notwithstanding , including its money - losing
broadband business and its failure to sell the oregon utility portland
general electric , enron ' s largest black eye came in mid - august when
jeffrey skilling , chief executive since february , resigned abruptly .
john hammerschmidt , senior portfolio manager of the turner new energy
and power technology fund , said he " freaked out " when skilling left and
managers immediately divested the turner large - cap portfolios of enron
holdings . despite its status as a growth player , turner had re - entered
the stock in june after a long absence because of valuation . at the
time , enron was trading in the mid to high $ 40 s .
" this is a premier company and a premier industry , " he said , adding
that he believed then that the market had priced rumors into the stock .
one of the rumors was that enron was about to take a big loss from being
long on power when power prices were collapsing , hammerschmidt said .
that has not materialized .
whatever the problems were , hammerschmidt said , he felt them to be
manageable . when skilling walked out , hammerschmidt began to believe
some of the rumors might be true .
" in our experience , when somebody in power leaves for no reason ,
there ' s uncertainty and uncertainty makes growth guys real nervous , " he
said .
management continuity
now he ' s looking to get back in . enron , he said , works in both down and
up markets .
" enron ' s earnings are more solid today than they ' ve ever been . . . and
they ' re valuable because we ' re becoming a digital economy , " he said . " we
need high - quality power , and local power plants have trouble providing
reliability . enron is focused on guaranteeing people quality power in
times of stress on the system . "
of course there ' s still the issue about trusting management . after
skilling left , enron promoted greg whalley to president and chief
operating officer and mark frevert to vice chairman .
" you cannot expect ( whalley and frevert ) to articulate the enron vision
the way jeffrey did , " christensen said . " they may grow into it . "
on the upside , skilling predecessor ken lay , who wall street credits
with building enron into a powerhouse , is back at the helm , and he has
promised to remain at the post until a solid succession plan is in
place .
" we have a great deal of confidence in mr . ken lay as he was the
original architect of ene ' s ( and for that matter the entire industry ' s )
tremendous transformation for the past decade , " merrill lynch stated in
a research report the day after skilling left enron .
what ' s more : " ken lay has promised more transparency at enron , more
insight into how the company makes money , which will help , " hilton said .
" trying to forecast enron ' s earnings is difficult . "
christensen said that a " lack of data and clarity in regard " to enron ' s
wholesale operations has been an issue in the past . enron has promised
to provide more information when it reports its third - quarter results on
october 16 .
ultimately , only time will assuage investors ' concerns . but with the
prospects that enron has , the stock is a deal right now , hammerschmidt
said .
" i don ' t know what gets people back , but buy enron at $ 25 , and in a
year , you ' re making money , " he said . " i can see the stock getting back
to $ 50 in a blink . "
fw : a positive note about enron .
move over carly fiorina . . . : - )
- - - - - original message - - - - -
from : jaffry , adil
sent : thursday , october 04 , 2001 9 : 32 am
to : jafry , rahil
subject : fw : a positive note about enron .
fyi . . .
from cbs . marketwatch . com , online at :
attacks highlight enron ' s value
by lisa sanders
3 : 02 am et oct 4 , 2001
houston ( cbs . mw ) - - in the wake of the sept . 11 terrorist attacks , one
of the few places to buy or sell jet fuel was an online market
maintained by enron .
the attacks highlighted the houston company ' s strength as a manager of
risk during periods of heightened uncertainty . through its trading
centers , the company gives customers a way to hedge against volatility
in oil , natural gas , and electricity markets , as well as other
commodities .
although the company lost one employee aboard one of the hijacked
planes and closed its operations on the day of the attacks , its trading
activity resumed the next day .
by coming back online so fast , " we made the decision to provide some
stability in the market , " said vance meyer , an enron spokesman . " the
customers really appreciated the fact that we were there , providing a
place for them to maintain and adjust their positions in the market . "
in a financial sense , enron ( ene ) didn ' t suffer , meyer said . but
employees at the enron building in downtown houston were badly shaken .
nick humber , who worked for enron ' s wind energy business , died aboard a
los angeles bound flight that crashed into the world trade center .
" we have offices in washington and new york , and people who had friends
that died or were affected in some way , " meyer said " we also had traders
who were on the phone with people in the world trade center when the
planes hit . "
the decision to temporarily halt commodity trading on the new york
mercantile exchange in the wake of the attacks " may have increased
volatility , a boon to the group , " said bob christensen , analyst at
fac / equities . companies that can defray volatility by helping customers
manage their energy costs should be seeing a lot of business , he said .
managing risk is what enron does best , market players say . and that
strength should help the company going forward as u . s . businesses try to
recover from the impact of september 11 . through its enrononline
platform , the company buys and sells commodities at volumes totaling
about $ 3 billion a day , meyer said .
" the world at large has become more risk averse , and enron , which is in
the business of risk mitigation , should benefit from that , " said glen
hilton , senior analyst and portfolio manager for the montgomery new
power fund , which has a stake in enron . " with energy risk and prices
potentially going up , they ' ll be the first number on many cfos ' speed
dial . "
other companies do what enron does , but it ' s the best positioned to
succeed because of its status as the leader in natural gas and power
trading , measured in terms of volume . duke energy ( duk ) is the
next - largest competitor , but it has one - third of enron ' s volume .
high profile departure
that ' s a good place to be for a company whose stock price has been on
the skids since last year , though it grew 151 percent on the top line in
2000 . other problems notwithstanding , including its money - losing
broadband business and its failure to sell the oregon utility portland
general electric , enron ' s largest black eye came in mid - august when
jeffrey skilling , chief executive since february , resigned abruptly .
john hammerschmidt , senior portfolio manager of the turner new energy
and power technology fund , said he " freaked out " when skilling left and
managers immediately divested the turner large - cap portfolios of enron
holdings . despite its status as a growth player , turner had re - entered
the stock in june after a long absence because of valuation . at the
time , enron was trading in the mid to high $ 40 s .
" this is a premier company and a premier industry , " he said , adding
that he believed then that the market had priced rumors into the stock .
one of the rumors was that enron was about to take a big loss from being
long on power when power prices were collapsing , hammerschmidt said .
that has not materialized .
whatever the problems were , hammerschmidt said , he felt them to be
manageable . when skilling walked out , hammerschmidt began to believe
some of the rumors might be true .
" in our experience , when somebody in power leaves for no reason ,
there ' s uncertainty and uncertainty makes growth guys real nervous , " he
said .
management continuity
now he ' s looking to get back in . enron , he said , works in both down and
up markets .
" enron ' s earnings are more solid today than they ' ve ever been . . . and
they ' re valuable because we ' re becoming a digital economy , " he said . " we
need high - quality power , and local power plants have trouble providing
reliability . enron is focused on guaranteeing people quality power in
times of stress on the system . "
of course there ' s still the issue about trusting management . after
skilling left , enron promoted greg whalley to president and chief
operating officer and mark frevert to vice chairman .
" you cannot expect ( whalley and frevert ) to articulate the enron vision
the way jeffrey did , " christensen said . " they may grow into it . "
on the upside , skilling predecessor ken lay , who wall street credits
with building enron into a powerhouse , is back at the helm , and he has
promised to remain at the post until a solid succession plan is in
place .
" we have a great deal of confidence in mr . ken lay as he was the
original architect of ene ' s ( and for that matter the entire industry ' s )
tremendous transformation for the past decade , " merrill lynch stated in
a research report the day after skilling left enron .
what ' s more : " ken lay has promised more transparency at enron , more
insight into how the company makes money , which will help , " hilton said .
" trying to forecast enron ' s earnings is difficult . "
christensen said that a " lack of data and clarity in regard " to enron ' s
wholesale operations has been an issue in the past . enron has promised
to provide more information when it reports its third - quarter results on
october 16 .
ultimately , only time will assuage investors ' concerns . but with the
prospects that enron has , the stock is a deal right now , hammerschmidt
said .
" i don ' t know what gets people back , but buy enron at $ 25 , and in a
year , you ' re making money , " he said . " i can see the stock getting back
to $ 50 in a blink . "