How Green are Your Earnings?
What Constitutes an Alternative Energy Company? There's a debate going on in the clean energy investment community about which companies are "green" enough to merit our attention. Before the filming of my WealthTrack appearance, I got into a discussion with Ardour Global Indexes' Joseph LaCorte. The Global Alternative Energy ETF (NYSE: GEX) is based on the index he manages. The format of the show includes a top pick from each of the guests at the end of the show, and Mr. LaCorte was hoping that I'd pick GEX, since I had previously told him that it was...
Make or Break Time
The markets have been in flux the last couple of weeks. I feel we are at a make or break time for the general trend of the market. Yesterday the S&P 500 was trying to close above the 200 day Moving Average but it failed. A close above this level will give me good reason to start investing some money again. Today the markets are down again and when you look at the S&P the 1210 level looks to be some solid resistance. People may wonder why I'm so concerned about the very short term trend of...
Two Green Stocks I Told My Sister to Sell
Tom Konrad CFA I guide my sister through the stock market, she guides me through the mountains. Once a year, I give my sister stock trading advice. Managing money is not her thing, so any more often and she’d likely lose interest, and not do anything. With that constraint, I wait until there are a large number of stocks I think she should trade, and send he a list of trades, along with quantities and limit prices for her to enter “good ’til canceled.” Last May, I told her...
Canada’s Top Ten Cleantech Firms
Tom Konrad, CFA Given the small size of its economy and rather lackluster approach to climate change, Canada has many of the Cleantech stocks with the best prospects. Canadian listed firms come from a broad range of sustainable sectors, and a lack of attention from United States investors means that many trade at very attractive valuations. Corporate Knights' has picked ten of the best. I'm often surprised at how many of my favorite green stocks are listed in Canada. This year, two of my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2010 are Canadian listed. The same was true for my...
11 Clean Energy Stocks for 2012: Quick Update
Tom Konrad CFA Experimenting with more frequent updates In the past, I genrally only wrote about my annual list of ten clean energy stocks on a quarterly basis, but when I wrote last month to apolgize for inadvertently slipping in an extra stock, and in the process wrote a few notes on a couple of the stocks with news, a couple readers wrote to say they liked the more frequent updates. So let it be written, so let it be done. Leave a comment if you think it's something I should continue doing,...
Will McConnell Kill The Bull Market?
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
The risks of playing politics
The American news media often tries too hard to be “balanced” when talking about politics.
Depending on which news sources you rely on, you may be hearing that “congress” is having trouble passing bills to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling. More partisan sources will be blaming it on the Democrats or the Republicans, depending on their political bent.
I generally consider myself an independent who cares deeply about the environment and competent government. Since the rise of Donald Trump, the Republicans have shifted from being the party of big business...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2018: Third Quarter Earnings
Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
After a fairly brutal September and October my Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio is barely hanging on to positive territory for the year (up 2.4%) as is the private portfolio I manage, the Green Global Equity Income Portfolio (GGEIP, up 0.8%). Yet I can take comfort in superior relative performance, since my broad dividend income benchmark SDY is now down 0.1% for the year, and the clean energy income benchmark YLCO has fallen 5.8%. All returns are total return after fees and dividends.
The strong relative performance in a weak market is most likely due to...
10 Clean Energy Stocks: Returns Through February/ Poll
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
I'm experimenting with how to display the returns of the 10 Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio. My Patreon supporters seem fairly evenly split between the two options show below, so I'm opening the poll up to my broader readership.
You can see the two most popular options below (with real return data through the end of February) and take the poll here.
Comments are welcome as well.
DISCLOSURE: Long all stocks in the model portfolio.
Q3 Performance Update: 10 Green Energy Stocks for 2009
My annual green energy stock picks continue to hold up, but the Obama Effect for clean energy seems to have been lost in the summer's healthcare debate. Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA For the first 9 months of 2009, my ten green energy stocks for 2009 are up 23.4% vs. the S&P 500, and up 20.4% over my clean energy benchmark, the iShares S&P Global Clean Energy Index (ICLN). For the third quarter, that amounts to a loss of 1% relative to the S&P 500, and a gain of 7% relative to ICLN. In my second quarter update, I...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2018: Terraform, Clearway, and Enviva
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Last week, I neglected to discuss Terraform Power (NASD: TERP) in the third quarter update on the other ten clean energy stocks for 2018. I did not notice the omission until after the post had been published, so I decided to write a quick follow-up this week after I had a chance to digest the earnings announcements (including TERP's) which were scheduled for later in the week.
Stock discussion
Clearway Energy, Inc (NYSE: CWEN and CWEN/A)
12/31/17 Price: $18.90 / $18.85. Annual Dividend: $1.133(6.0%). Expected 2018 dividend: $1.26(6.7%) Low Target: $14. High Target: $25.
10/31/18 Price: $19.61/$19.42 ...
10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2021: Diversification
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Rounding out the discussion of the stocks in my 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2021 list are the two that don’t fit either of the themes I highlighted for 2021: Picks and Shovels or a Possible Yieldco Boom. Both help with diversification, both in terms of their industry and geography.
MiX Telematics (MIXT) was retained from the Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2020 list because I expect its prospects to improve rapidly as the world comes out of covid lockdowns. The global vehicle telematics provider has a large number of its customers among mass transit, logistics,...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2014: March Update
Tom Konrad CFA After a rough January, the stock market recovered in February, while clean energy stocks partied like it was 2013. My annual Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio also had a good month, rising 6.0%, and is now up 4.7% for the year in dollar terms, and up % in local currency terms. My broad market benchmark (the iShares Russell 2000 index) is up 7.5% for the period and 1.5% for the year. Clean energy stocks soared higher, with the Powershares WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE:PBW) up 16.3% for...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2017: January Jump
Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA The year got off to a spectacular start for my tenth annual Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio. (You can read about the performance in 2016 and prior years here.) The portfolio and its income and growth subportfolios were up 9%, 8%, and 14%, respectively. Clean energy stocks in general also did well, with my three respective benchmarks up 2 to 3% each. (I use the YieldCo ETF YLCO as a benchmark for the income stocks, the Clean Energy ETF PBW as a benchmark for the...
Election Jitters Spell Opportunity: Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2016
Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA This October saw falling leaves and falling stocks. Then came the first week of November with its election jitters and stripped the trees of the rest of their leaves like a fifty mile an hour wind sending stocks flying as well. While Donald Trump's unpredictable performance has the whole stock market rattled (at least when it looks like he might win), his anti-environment and pro fossil fuel rhetoric have had stocks in the sector quaking like the leaves on an aspen. Although all its benchmarks were decidedly in the red for October...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2016: Just The Numbers (9-1 to 10-11-16)
Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA I missed my regular monthly update of my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2016 model portfolio at the start of October due to vacation. This mini-update will just give the numbers through October 11th, without the regular discussion of company events. I'll follow up in early November covering highlights for the full two months. As you can see from the chart below, the portfolio and all sub-portfolios did very well by outperforming their benchmarks by 3% to 12% for the six week period. See the May...
Four Clean Energy Value Stocks I’m Buying Now
Tom Konrad CFA Corrected version 8/11/2011 Apologies to readers who have been missing my articles recently. I've had little time to write as I have been too busy trading. Long-time readers know that I've been bearish since the summer of 2009, and it has been a painful two years as I maintained my short positions and puts in the face of a generally rising market. Market Outlook In my opinion, we are still a good distance from the bottom. The rise of the stock market over the last two years has been predicated on...
