Natural Resources >> Analyst Interviews >> November 17, 2003

Outlook For Natural Gas Companies: Curtis Launer – Credit Suisse First Boston

CURTis LAUNER is a Managing Director in the Equity Research Department of Credit Suisse First Boston. He leads the firm's Natural Gas and Utility Research Group and has specific coverage in the Natural Gas and Power sector. He joined Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in 1987 and was there until the merger with CSFB in October 2000. Mr. Launer was named the number one ranked analyst in the natural gas group in the Institutional Investor, Greenwich and Reuters research polls for the year 2001. He has been among the top three natural gas analysts in all the major polls in each of the past 15 years and was ranked number one in the II poll from 1990-1995 and from 1997-2001. His clearly defined valuation techniques, accounting knowledge, stock picking and macro- fundamental analysis have been recognized in numerous publications and presentations to industry groups. Mr. Launer previously worked at L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, where he spent three years as a natural gas research analyst. Before working on Wall Street, Mr. Launer was operations manager for Gruss Petroleum Management in New York and Midland, Texas. Mr. Launer began his career as an accountant working at Arthur Young & Company and Mobil Oil Corporation. He received a BS in Accounting from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1977. Profile
TWST: Let's talk about the gas side of the energy equation. What's gone

on from a market perspective with these stocks so far this year?

Mr. Launer: The market for these stocks has been very