S&P500 stock - Ameren Corporation - (NYSE: AEE)

New Entrants stay away for others it's a hold.

Ameren Corporation is a downgraded stock by most analysts.  Total energy operating revenues of shareholder-owned electric companies were $400 billion in the US. Total capitalization of U.S. shareholder-owned electric companies was $533.4 billion. The average electricity use per customer is 30,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh). Total electric utility revenues from sales to customers equaled $360 billion. The average revenue received per kWh sold was 9 cents. According to the Energy Information Administration, electricity demand is expected to increase 1.9 percent in 2007.  The U.S. electric power industry's total installed generating capacity was 1,067,019 megawatts (MW) as of December 31, 2005. U.S. shareholder-owned installed generating capacity was 398,392 MW as of December 31, 2005. This accounts for approximately 37 percent of total electric power industry installed capacity. Non-utility owned installed generating capacity grew from 446,230 MW in 2004 to 446,346 MW in 2005. In 2005, shareholder-owned electric utilities spent $5.8 billion on transmission investment. 

Ameren Corporation is a public utility holding company. Ameren's asset is the common stock of its subsidiaries, including Union Electric Company, Central Illinois Public Service Company, Ameren Energy Generating Company, CILCORP Inc. and Illinois Power Company. The company's subsidiaries run rate-regulated electric generation, transmission and distribution businesses, rate-regulated natural gas distribution businesses, and non-rate-regulated electric generation businesses in the states of Missouri and Illinois. Its assets amount to $19 billion. Ameren is the largest electric utility in Missouri and the second largest in Illinois, Ameren companies provide energy services to 2.4 million electric and nearly one million natural gas customers throughout its 64,000-square-mile territory. 

Gary L. Rainwater is chairman, chief executive officer and president of Ameren Corporation-a position he assumed Jan. 1, 2004, after serving as president and chief operating officer of Ameren Corporation since September 2001. Mr. Rainwater joined Union Electric Company-now the Ameren utility company, Ameren UE-in 1979. He began his career as an engineer in Electric Transmission and Distribution, where he served for three years before joining Corporate Planning. He headed the company's strategic planning efforts and managed the power generation planning, transmission planning, wholesale power marketing and rate design functions. He also assumed added responsibility for the Transmission Planning and Energy Services departments.  

Its major competitors are Aquila Inc, Exelon Corp.  Ameren Corp.'s third quarter profit dropped 17 percent and net income from its Illinois regulated operations - AmerenCILCO, AmerenCIPS and AmerenIP - dipped into negative territory, posting a $9 million net loss in the third quarter. The company attributed the decline to the rate relief settlement package for Illinois customers, higher operating costs and the costs of a January ice storm that more than offset the benefits from warmer summer weather. The St. Louis-based electric and gas utility reported a third quarter net income of $244 million, or $1.18 per share, down from the $293 million, or $1.42 per share, result reported the same time last year. Excluding the settlement charge, earnings were $1.36 a share, down from $1.52 a share a year ago. That came in under Wall Street's expectations, as analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of $1.56 per share. The loss is a $92 million decrease in earnings compared to the third quarter of 2006, which posted a net income of $83 million. Broken down by utility, AmerenCILCO posted a transmission and design net loss of $4 million, AmerenIP posted a transmission and design net loss of $5 million and AmerenCIPS was flat. For the first nine months of 2007, Ameren Corp.'s net income totaled $510 million, or $2.46 per share, up from the $486 million, or $2.37 per share, in 2006.

The company is expected to move at a healthy pace as the demand for electricity is increasing every year. The growth percentage in the last five years is in the red at 2.04%. But this year the company is expected to grow at 8 %. And by the end of this fiscal year the company might post a small profit leading to an increase in the share prices. All newbies are advised to stay away from the stock.