John Stephenson Aquila ILA-N PAST TOP PICK Jun 10, 2004

Have balance sheet issues.

Had a rough ride. Has fundamental problems.

A turnaround story. Somewhat speculative. Has done an outstanding job of shedding its merchant assets. Turning into a regional utility and this area looks like it might benefit from a bill going through Congress. Good management.

A speculative play. Extremely focused on repaying their debt. Cheap. Could be a takeover target.

Nothing fundamentally wrong with it. (See previous comments where it was his Top Pick.) Bottom line this is a Kansas City based utility. Went from this in the 90's to become a trans-national energy provider. Had too much debt and when Enron, etc. imploded, they went down with it. Retrenching. Have a lot of peers that got bought out at very high multiples.