Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Infrastructure: "Quanta Services: Incremental Progress" and Upgraded to Buy at BB&T (PWR)

Although it wasn't planned, this is our third infrastructure post in the last week.*
PWR is trading down 11 cents at $22.01 after a 10% run-up following the upgrade.
From BloggingStocks:
Record incremental progress in the past three months for Quanta Services (PWR), first discussed on June 11, 2009 at a price of $24.76.

The shares of Quanta, a provider of electric/natural gas/telecom infrastructure services, had formed a bear hug and started to veer toward the $12 sell/stop loss. Were it not for Quanta's power-based infrastructure status, the position would have been closed.However, PWR's preferred sector status kept the trade in play in March, aided by the argument that the worst of the selling was over, and that the stock would find support at/near $16. It did, and the stock has since reversed and moved back above the key, 50-day moving average. Hence, PWR at current levels, $20 to $21, represents a good entry point.

The argument forwarded here posits that Quanta is well-positioned to benefit from the upgrade of the nation's electric transmission and distribution grid. Quanta's total order backlog is $5.6 billion, including contract wins with several, major utilities.

The First Call FY2010/FY2011 EPS estimates for PWR are 94 cents to $1.21....MORE
From Benzinga (June 9):
BB&T Capital Markets upgraded Quanta Services (NYSE: PWR) from “hold” to “buy.” PWR closed at $20.25 yesterday. Quanta Services’ earnings are likely to grow by 26.04% in the next year. 
*"ABB: Decades of Growth for Infrastructure Leader" (ABB; CHLD.L)
   Research Recap: "US Infrastructure Construction Growth to Peak in 2011" (ABB; BGC; FLR; FWLT; PWR)