Exelon & NRG, Earnings and a Duel (EXC, NRG)

Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) rose nearly 1.5% yesterday after the company reported fourth quarter 2008 EPS of $1.07, up from $0.84 in 2007. Full-year revenue of $18.86 billion was almost $1 billion higher than estimates, and full-year EPS reached $4.13 slightly lower than estimated EPS of $4.17. The company reaffirmed guidance for 2009 for non-GAAP earnings of$4.00-$4.30/share. Exelon also confirmed that it will continue itsefforts to acquire NRG Energy Inc.(NYSE:NRG).

The earnings release included a report of a meeting betweenExelon and NRG executives at which no "agreement or arrangementconcerning further discussions, due diligence or other exchange ofinformation" was reached. According to Exelon, NRG wants to see if any other companies are interested in buying NRG.

NRG’s preliminary report confirmed adjusted EBITDA guidance of $2.2billion for 2009, and upped the cash flow from operations by $200million, to $1.5 billion.

NRG shares are trading up slightly this morning, and Exelon is down about 1%.

Paul Ausick
January 23, 2009