Should You Buy It? Sierra Pacific

Sierra Pacific (SRP - commentary - Cramer's Take) is a normally sleepy regulated energy utility that has come under fire lately because of its exposure to the cratered Las Vegas real estate market.

At Wednesday's closing price of $8.96, the stock is down more than 45% year to date. The company serves more than 92% of Nevada and also has some customers on the California side of Lake Tahoe. Sierra serves about 1.3 million customers and generates a significant portion of its revenue from the gaming and mining industries.

Wall Street has had a mixed opinion of this stock as well. The shares were downgraded to sector perform at the brokerage RBC Capital on Nov. 4, but Sierra was also added to the conviction buy list at Goldman Sachs on Nov. 17.

With that in mind, I'm here to answer readers' questions: Should you buy it? Can Sierra Pacific offer a burst of energy to your portfolio, or should investors focus elsewhere?

Sierra posted mixed third-quarter results back on Nov. 3. The company earned 64 cents a share, which was a penny ahead of the consensus analyst estimate. Revenue fell 7.3% from the previous year to $1.12 billion and was $150 million short of expectations.

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David Peltier is a research associate at TheStreet.com. In keeping with TSC's editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Peltier appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.

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