Securing a profit.

• Position: NC TREND: Triangle Region - PowerSecure International, Inc. profit data - Financial report - Statistical table

On an investor conference call in November, PowerSecure CEO Sidney Hinton was asked if his Wake Forest-based company's technology is poised to benefit from changing energy-industry trends. "I feel like somebody that's 7-foot tall and standing by the volleyball net, and I just got the ball," according to a transcript provided by Seeking Alpha. Giant Atlanta-based utility Southern Company shared that enthusiasm, offering $431 million, or $18.75 per share, for PowerSecure. The bid almost doubled the company's previous day's closing price.

The 900-employee company is attractive because its products are being used by some red-hot utility-industry businesses, with a backlog topping $400 million. PowerSecure makes distributed-energy systems--small devices that generate power for use by nearby customers. Renewable-energy sources such as solar and wind typically are used for distributed generation. The systems remain specks in the grand scheme of Southern and Charlotte-based Duke Energy, which rely on giant coal, gas and nuclear plants to produce electricity. But the specks are getting bigger in a hurry. PowerSecure's revenues have tripled since 2010 to more than $375 million annually, with much of the recent increases coming from data centers and...