As he announced the Salt Lake City company's first-quarter financial results, Creamer predicted EnergySolutions will win its federal lawsuit to import reactor cleanup waste from the European country.

"We are confident about the prospect of prevailing in this action," he told financial analysts in a conference call.

The nuclear-waste services company reported net income of $19.3 million in the first quarter, in its first new year as a public company, compared with a loss of $10.3 million in the same quarter of 2007. Earnings per share were 22 cents.

Revenue was $502 million, up from $114 million.

The news helped send the stock price up 91 cents per share, to $24.15, or 3.9 percent. The range for EnergySolutions has been $16.90 to $28.45 since its Nov. 14 initial public offering.

Piper Jaffray analyst Charles Fishman has a target price of $28 per share and a "buy" rating for the stock.

"We believe the rebirth of the nuclear industry, a trend that is already under way in other countries, is likely to begin in the U.S.," he said in a client note. "In our opinion, ES, through recent acquisitions, has positioned itself to capitalize on this trend better than any other industry competitor."

Creamer pointed to many successes for the quarter, including finishing projects in Canada and California early, and landing a federal license that allows PCB-contaminated radioactive waste to be shredded at its Utah disposal site in Tooele County.

Al Kaschalk, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities, said the outlook for the company is positive, especially if it lands some big cleanup contracts, including two Department of Energy projects at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington. He gives the stock a "hold" rating at $24.

Prospects for the Italy contract, although uncertain, are "certainly not do or die," Kaschalk said. "It would help the numbers."

Creamer fielded a question Tuesday on the Italian waste project, which he noted "has generated some negative publicity."

The CEO said it would probably be toward the end of the year, at best, before a judge makes a ruling on whether EnergySolutions can dispose of foreign waste at its Utah facility. And that means the company's import plans will remain "on hold" until the matter is resolved.

EnergySolutions has filed suit against the Northwest Compact on Low-level Radioactive Waste for the right to import 20,000 tons of cleanup waste from Italy, recycle some of it at the company's plant in Tennessee and dispose the remaining waste at the Utah disposal site.

Last week the eight Western state members of the compact board said that the company's contract does not permit waste generated in foreign nations. The company's lawsuit contends the compact has no authority over its operations and that the U.S. Constitution does not allow any distinction between foreign and domestic nuclear waste.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. helped block the plans for importing the waste by announcing that Utah used its vote on the compact board to oppose it. He argues that the federal government should step into the issue. Two Democractic congressmen, including Rep. Jim Matheson of Utah, have introduced legislation to ban foreign waste imports.

fahys@sltrib.com

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* THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.