Viridian might just be the hot stock of 2001

Hey everyone..every heard of viridian....its a power company..ive been doing some research on it lately and have prrof to believe that it is a strong BUY. Im not the only one.. Yetserday two brokers upgraded their stance on Viridian.....i found them on iii.co.uk...here they are;

Viridian Retains Buy Rating
Merrill Lynch has retained its long and short-term buy ratings for Viridian (VRD), the holding company for Northern Ireland Electricity. It reckons EPS will come out at 56.6p this year, rising to 57.7p the year after. It has set a 12-month price target of 850p. The share was trading at 635p this morning.

Merrill says Viridian’s unregulated businesses have been combined as Viridian Capital and look set to deliver significant value and rapid growth over the next few years. It believes Viridian has one of the lowest regulatory risk profiles in the electricity sector. Dividend growth of 10% looks safe for three years. The balance sheet provides flexibility to fund investment and further share buybacks.
CSFB sees Viridian powering to 800p

CSFB has reiterated its "buy" recommendation on electricity group Viridian (VRD) and has upped its price target to 800p from 730p. Today the shares were trading at 635p.

In the 27-page document entitled "Powering into the new economy", analyst Alisdair Gayne points out that the shares have underperformed the FTSE All Share index by 29% over the past 12 months. He expects pretax profit of £94m for 2000, equal to earnings per share of 57.9p. This should grow to £102m (63.3p) in 2001 and £110m (67.8p) in 2002.

The broker sees hidden value in Sx3, the company's outsourcing business, which he reckons is worth £150m and could soon be floated. The company's joint telecoms venture with Energis (EGS) could be worth £40m to £250m. If these two businesses deliver, the broker says the company could be worth £10.96. The only uncertainty surrounding the company is the next price control review.