Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2013
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...
See You Later, Hannon Armstrong
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Sustainable infrastructure financier Hannon Armstrong (NYSE:HASI) is not in my Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio for the first year since its IPO in 2013. I still love the company and its business model, but I have become concerned about its short term prospects.
Dividend Disappointment?
In my last update on the 2017 portfolio, I wrote,
“Sustainable infrastructure and clean energy financier Hannon Armstrong reported earnings on November 1st. The headline numbers were lower than expected, but for a very good reason. The company has spent the last few months locking in low interest rates by refinancing its...
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...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2020: Navigating the Storm
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
This monthly update for my Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio is in two parts. I published my thoughts on the current market turmoil on March 2nd. You can find them here. I'm not even going to get into the Fed slashing interest rates like they were a furniture warehouse going out of business on March 3rd except to say that apparently they are more afraid of the effects of covid-19 on the economy than they are of appearing to panic.
You can see overall performance for January and February in the following chart. Not that...
Trade Like It’s 2008
Tom Konrad CFA Three stocks I sold recently, and why. Three years later, I'm still kicking myself that the severity of the 2008 financial crisis and stock market collapse took me by surprise. Not that I wasn't in good company. If a majority of investors had been prepared for the crisis, it would never have happened in the first place: The overpriced CDOs and other securities which were a large part of the cause would never have become overpriced. But making excuses for past mistakes is not useful. Learning from them...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2018: Oddballs Spring Back
After a stormy winter for the broad market and clean energy stocks, including my picks, March and April brought relative calm. Better yet, my model portfolio has rebounded from its February lows, although its benchmarks (SDY for the broad market of income stocks and YLCO for clean energy income stocks) have mostly been treading water.
The gains were led by two of my less conventional clean energy picks, Seaspan (SSW) and InfraREIT (HIFR). Seaspan owns (mostly very efficient) container-ships, which most people would not associate with clean energy, but which I include because they they are much less energy intensive...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2018: Quick November Update
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
At the start of November, I abandoned my short-term bearish stance on the market, writing "I’m not confident that the correction is over, but we seem to be heading into a temporary lull, and so I’m going to abandon cash as my top pick for November." This turned out to be a good call, with my Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio up 4.3% for the month, slightly behind its broad dividend income benchmark, SDY, which was up 4.9%. Its clean energy income benchmark YLCO gained 1.6%, as did the private portfolio I manage, the...
10 Clean Energy Stocks For 2018 Preview
Like last year, I will be offering paying readers a preview of my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2018 list. I plan to publish the final article after market close on January 1st. If you would like to see a draft version mailed on December 29th (a full trading day before the final publication) please PayPal $10 to me at with a note that it's for the 10 for 2018 preview. The draft will contain the full list, but may not have a complete stock discussion for each stock. I plan to finish the article over the next couple days.
Note...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2017: Finessing Trump
Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA The History of the "10 Clean Energy Stocks" Model Portfolios 2017 will be the ninth year I publish a list of ten clean energy stocks I expect to do well in the coming year. This series has evolved from a simple, off-the-cuff list in 2008, to a full blown model portfolio, with predetermined benchmarks and (mostly) monthly updates on performance and significant news for the 10 stocks. While there is much overlap between the model portfolio and my own holdings (both personal and in the Green Global Equity Income Portfolio (GGEIP),...
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...
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...
Shares in XsunX Inc. Purchased
You may have noticed that I'm starting to buy again. Well I also purchased shares in XSUNX Inc. (XSNX) this morning for my personal portfolio. Marketocracy will not allow me to purchase this stock in the mutual fund since it trades over the counter as a penny stock. The stock has been a strong mover since early September and I have been waiting for a pull back that has never materialized. I decided to purchase a 1/3 position here at this point. XsunX is a development stage company that I have profiled in the past. Since I started...
Buying Green Stocks Pays, but Finding Green in Brown Pays More
Tom Konrad CFA Although green stocks did better than un-green (or brown) stocks since Newsweek's 2009 Green Rankings were published, the big winners were the greenest stocks in the brownest sectors. Newsweek has released its 2010 Green Rankings for America's 500 largest corporations, and the companies at the top of the list are happily gloating about being greener than their rivals. More important to investors is the question: Do the greenest companies beat the market? Marc Gunther notes that the top 100 companies in the 2009 Green Rankings outperformed the S&P 500 by 6.8%. ...
Calpine Given Notice
Calpine Corp. (CPN) shares are down another 20% again today and are now down in the 20-30 cent range. They were given notice today by a Delaware judge that they have until January 22 to repay $313 million owed to bondholders. Moody's has also downgraded their corporate bonds to junk bond Ca stauts (10 levels below investment grade.) Calpine was kicked out of the S&P 500 recently and now they are looking like they will declare bankruptcy. Boy the hits just keep on coming.
10 Clean Energy Stocks For 2019 – First Two Months Results
It's hard to find anything to complain about in the first two month's performance of my 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2019 model portfolio. Unfortunately, I'm about to go on vacation and don't have time to do an update on all the earnings reports that have come out over the last two weeks. I will try to get to them individually as I have time.
Strategically, I'd like to say I'm getting very nervous about this market rally, and think that readers should be taking profits opportunistically and increasing your cash positions.
Covanta and Green Plains Partners Don’t Let A Crisis Go To Waste
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Last week, two of the stocks in my Ten Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio cut their dividends. Covanta Holding Corp (CVA) dropped its quarterly payout from $0.25 to $0.08 (a 68% cut) while Green Plains Partners (GPP) slashed its quarterly distribution from $0.475 to $0.12, a drop of 74.75%.
Before reducing their dividends, both companies had payout ratios near 100%, meaning that substantially all of their free cash flow was going to pay dividends. In general, companies are very reluctant to cut their dividends because it is a signal that their management thinks they cannot grow...
