Portfolio

Tom Konrad CFA Clip art by Philip Martin January has been a great month for clean energy stocks, and the stock market as a whole.  My clean energy benchmark, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy Index (PBW), returned 10.9%, while the broad universe of small cap stocks which I benchmark with the iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (IWM) is up a lesser but still impressive 9.5%. My ten clean energy picks for 2013 (introduced here), are up a...

Tom Konrad When I asked my panel of green money managers their predictions for trends 2013, I got enough material for four articles: On where the cleantech sector is heading in 2013, as well as on Solar, Smart Grid, and LED technology. I also asked them for stock picks, some of which I included in the previous articles.  Several had opinions about EnerNOC (NASD:ENOC), which I wrote about here, and two picked LED stocks Veeco Instruments (NASD:VECO) and Universal Display Corp. (NASD:PANL), which I discussed here. Since I just published my annual model portfolio of...

Tom Konrad CFA Year In Review For the fourth year in a row, my model portfolio of clean energy stocks has beaten the clean energy sector as a whole, this year by 23.8%.   Unfortunately, this was mostly due to another year of poor performance by my industry benchmark, the widely held Powershares Clean Energy (PBW) ETF, which lost 16.4% for the year.  My model portfolio, composed of eleven clean energy stocks listed in this article published on January 2nd, gained 7.4%, still short of the performance of the broad market, which gained 16.6%.  The general market...

Tom Konrad CFA This article is intended as a companion piece to Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2012. In the past, I've generally avoided illiquid stocks like Lime Energy (NASD:LIME) and PFB Corporation (TSX:PFB, OTC:PFBOF) which are included in this year's list.  The reason is simple: it's hard for all but the smallest investors to buy such stocks without significantly moving the price.  This year, I've instead chosen to publish a short list of alternative picks which readers can substitute for stocks they consider too illiquid or otherwise risky for their portfolio.  Another advantage...

Tom Konrad CFA Every year since 2008, I've published a list of ten (or eleven in 2012) clean energy stocks I expect to do well over the coming year.  The list is intended as a model portfolio which could be used by a small investor looking to avoid the relatively high costs of clean energy mutual funds, most of which have expense ratios around 2%, in addition to the trading costs they incur with fairly high turnover ratios.  My list also reflects my belief that the best returns and least risk in clean...

Tom Konrad CFA What the Election Brought to Energy Stocks Obama's reelection did not bring on a new bull market for Clean Energy stocks, as some had hoped.  My Clean Energy model portfolio was flat (+0.4%) for the month, while the widely held Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF (PBW) fell 1.6%.  In contrast, the broad market, as measured by the Russell 2000 ETF, (IWM) rose 1.1%.  If Obama's re-election had a strong effect on any energy sector, it was coal stocks: the Market Vectors Coal ETF (KOL) was down 8.5% over the same...

Garvin Jabusch The Green Alpha Advisors' approach to portfolio management utilizes a top-down macroeconomic model reflecting how global economies will evolve to meet demands presented by modern challenges such as resource scarcity, growing populations, land and food management, atmospheric carbon and extreme weather, to name a few. These emerging challenges are daunting, but fortunately, society is answering and acting to preserve our economies and way of life with a new wave of innovation, the like of which has not been seen since the information technology revolution of the 1990s and the industrial revolution before that.  The...

11 Clean Energy Stocks for 2012 Tom Konrad CFA October Overview October brought a gentle fall to my Clean Energy model portfolio, and a slightly-less gentle decline for the clean energy sector and the stock market as a whole. Both the unhedged and hedged versions of my model portfolio fell 2.3% for the month, compared to a 4.1% decline for the widely held Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF (PBW), which I use as a benchmark for the clean energy sector as a whole, and a 4.0%...

Tom Konrad CFA September Overview September was another quiet month for my Clean Energy model portfolio and the stock market in general, with the exception of Finavera Wind Energy (TSX:FVR, OTC:FNVRF), which put itself up for sale last Monday (see below.)  Since my last update, my model portfolio rose a modest 4.5%, shadowing my broad market benchmark, the Russell 2000 index (^RUT), also up 4.5%.  Although my clean energy picks rose in line with the broader market, the clean energy sector as...

Tom Konrad CFA August Overview I was traveling for much of the month of August, and so did not keep up with most of my stocks.  But not much happened while I was gone, with the broad market and renewable energy stocks both producing small gains for the month of a little over three percent, as measured by my benchmarks, the Russell 2000 index (^RUT, 3.4%), and the most widely held clean energy ETF, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF (PBW, 3.2%). My Clean Energy model portfolio also had a relatively uneventful month,...

Tom Konrad CFA July Overview July was a good month for my Clean Energy model portfolio.  Since the last update, these 11 stocks are up an average of 3.3%, with a year to date return total return a tiny loss of -0.5%.  While it's never pleasant to be down for the year, it's helpful to compare this performance to that of the most widely held clean energy ETF, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF (PBW), which was down 8.7% for the month, and down 21% year to date.  All in all, it has been a miserable year...

Tom Konrad CFA On Thursday, Veolia Environnement (NYSE:VE) closed a deal to sell its solid waste business for $1.9 billion.  This is part of its ongoing effort to reduce debt and cost of operations by selling assets worth $6.14 billion, which the company expects to complete by the end of 2013.  Last year, Veolia took the first step in this program by selling its UK water business, also for $1.9 billion. I’ve long been attracted to Veolia for its green credentials and high dividend yield.  The company paid a euro 0.70 ($0.85) dividend in 2012,...

Tom Konrad CFA June was a month of recovery for the stock market in general and clean energy stocks to a somewhat lesser extent.   The Russell 2000 index (^RUT, which I use as a broad market benchmark in this series) was up 9% in June, while the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF (PBW) gained 5.3%.  So far for the year, ^RUT has produced a total return of 9.5%, while PBW shows a loss off 12.2%. My model portfolio introduced in January of 11 equally-weighted clean stocks lost ground yet continues to outperform the clean energy...

Tom Konrad CFA Performance in May Fear of the disintegration of the Euro resurfaced in May, sending all stocks downward.  Clean energy stocks once again fell more than the market as a whole.  Possible causes are that many clean energy sectors are exposed to further loss of European subsidies, and that clean energy stocks tend to be more volatile than the market as a whole, with both up and down moves being magnified.  The Russell 2000 index (which I use as a broad market benchmark in this series) was down 7.1% in May, the Powershares Wilderhill Clean...

Tom Konrad CFA Unenchanted April After a great January, the last three months have not been kind to clean energy stocks.  While my model portfolios are still in positive territory (+5.4% and +0.9% for the unhedged and hedged portfolios, respectively), and are above my clean energy benchmark (The Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy ETF, -3.4%), they have again fallen behind my broader market index, the Russell 2000 (+7.3%.)  Gone with the Wind trailer, public domain Gone With the Wind April saw the chances of...

Tom Konrad CFA Portfolio performance March was a volatile month for clean energy, with many of my picks reporting earnings.  My 11 picks were down 4% on average since my last update (March 1st to April 5th), compared to a 9% decline in the Powershares Wilderhill Clean Energy Index (PBW), while the broad Russell 2000 index was flat.  The hedged portfolio (see the original article for details) lost 5%. For the year to date, the portfolio has put in a strong performance, and is up 15%.  PBW and the Russell 2000 are up only 3%...