Comfort Systems has fallen off its $20-1/2 high in November 1998, and was trading at $11-3/8 near press time. The company has met or exceeded Wall Street expectations the last seven quarters.

Coming on the heels of American Residential Services Inc.’s sellout to ServiceMaster, some industry observers think it’s only a matter of time before other consolidators sell their companies.

“Comfort Systems would be a wonderful acquisition for a large utility,” Business Week quoted Marc Baylin, an analyst and portfolio manager at T. Rowe Price Associates, as saying. Baylin said the stock is worth $28 per share.

Comfort Systems has agreements with several utilities to sell energy-efficiency products and services to commercial and industrial customers. With revenues of about $1.2 billion, Comfort Systems operates 100 locations in 72 cities and 28 states.