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McCain stock: Nuclear plant build-out heats up Paladin Resources (PDN)

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This post is part of a series in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked financial experts to name their top stock pick if McCain or if Obama wins the election.

"McCain has been a strong supporter of nuclear power and his energy plan calls for building 45 new nuclear power plants in the U.S. by 2030; our pick for a McCain victory is uranium miner Paladin Resources (Toronto: PDN)," says Elliott Gue in The Energy Strategist.

"McCain's plan would represent by far the most significant build-out of nuclear plants in more than three decades. He has an ultimate goal of building 100 new U.S. reactors. America's 104 existing plants account for about 20% of electricity generation.

"The U.S. is not the only country in the world considering a major expansion in nuclear power. Russia, India and China have already committed to a major expansion of their nuclear energy capacity. And nuclear is also enjoying a renaissance in other developed markets such as the U.K. and Italy.

"The main fuel for nuclear plants is uranium. Last year, mined uranium supplies only covered about 64% of global uranium demand; to make up the difference, utilities tapped secondary sources such as stockpiles and reprocessed nuclear warheads.

"But, secondary supplies are expected to decline sharply in coming years and the Megatons to Megawatts program for reprocessing Russian nuclear weapons into power plant fuel ends in 2013. Therefore, mined supply will have to ramp up to meet rapidly growing demand.

"While uranium prices have declined over the past year, they're still up sharply since the beginning of this decade and the supply demand balance in the uranium market is expected to remain tight over the next few years.

"Paladin Resources is a small but fast-growing uranium producer. The company's primary operating mine is the Langer Heinrich project located in the African nation of Namibia.

"The plant should ramp up to produce close to 1.71 million pounds of uranium by the end of this year. Paladin also announced plans to expand the mine's capacity to 2.6 to 3.7 million pounds in coming years.

"And Paladin's Kayelekera mine in Malawi is also promising. The company is looking to initiate production in 2009, ramping up to produce more than 3 million pounds of uranium per year by the end of 2010.

"All told, Paladin could produce more than 9 million pounds of uranium by 2012, making it one of the world's largest pure-play producers. Buy Paladin Resources under Canadian $4.50."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

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Last updated: November 10, 2009: 03:39 AM

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