Topic: How To Invest

Pat: I would appreciate your insight on Otter Tail on Nasdaq. It seems like a well-diversified company with lots of potential. Bill Gates just increased his stake to 20%. I am thinking there must be some benefit if the percentage is so great. Looking at the fundamentals with a 5.3% dividend, this does look good. I would appreciate your thoughts.

Article Excerpt

Otter Tail Corp., $22.61, symbol OTTR on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 35.7 million; Market cap: $807.0 million), is the parent of Otter Tail Power Company, which supplies electricity to 129,000 customers. These clients are in a rural area that overlaps Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Otter Tail gets 50% of its electrical revenue from Minnesota, followed by North Dakota (41%) and South Dakota (9%). Residential clients account for 28% of Otter Tail’s electrical revenue, followed by commercial and farms (35%), industrial (21%) and other (16%). The company also has manufacturing, health services, food ingredient processing, plastics, construction and transportation operations. Otter Tail reported lower revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2009, on weakness at all of its operations except food ingredients. Total revenue fell 27.1%, to $257.4 million from $352.9 million. Earnings per share fell 6.5%, to $0.29 from $0.31. Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment LLC of Kirkland, Washington, holds a 20% interest in Otter Tail. Cascade has made investments in…