Stock Watch: Meralco's meteoric rise, another PLDT?

Meralco, the largest power company in the Philippines and previously controlled by the Lopez clan, has its stock price shot up to meteoric levels recently. Just 6 months ago, it has a flat price of around 60 pesos, now it has a current price of 272.50. This is 350% increase, if my math is correct. Simple investment example would be if you were able to purchase Php 100,000 worth of Meralco stocks last January 2009, then its current value right now would be Php 450,000. This is a quite amazing profit especially for a blue chip company like Meralco. The swings of blue chip companies are usually smaller because they are the more stable ones in the market. This is certainly because of the acquisition of shares from MVP and his PLDT group of 20% of Meralco from the Lopez family. Their plans of implementing smart grid and internet through power lines are catching the investor's interests.