Unsuprisingly, CNBC featured several segments yesterday on alt energy and Bush’s State of the Union Address. I picked out 3 that I particularly liked. 1) Rich Asplund, Melvin Securities Equity Analyst; and Garvin Jabusch, Sierra Club Stock Fund Portfolio Manager, discuss the US ethanol industry and make a couple of alt energy stock picks. Neither analyst is particularly bullish on corn-based ethanol but both are on solar. More specifically, they both like Suntech Power [NYSE:STP]. The other pick is Itron [NASDAQ:ITRI] because of its exposure to smart metering technology. 2) A discussion on what tighter fuel efficiency standards will mean for the US auto industry and Big Oil. Unsurprisingly, the Big Three are not at all well positioned to face tougher standards and the Japanese, but most notably Toyota [NYSE:TM], Honda [NYSE:HMC] and Nissan, should gain a competitive edge as a result. Big Oil has nothing to fear with growing demand in China and India and oil at between $50 and $60. 3) Vinod Khosla, founder of Sun Microsystems and successful venture capitalist, on ethanol. Ethanol could, according to Khosla, replace fully 100% of US gasoline consumption in the next 25 years, but cellulosic ethanol is the key (surprise, surprise…). The most “innovative” publicly-traded clean tech company out there, according to Khosla? VeraSun [NYSE:VSE]. The segments are between 4 and 5 minutes long. Nothing ground breaking but interesting nonetheless. DISCLOSURE: Of the stocks discussed above, I am long Suntech Power.
