Alternative Energy Stocks

There are Always Buyers – even for Clean-tech deals. An Update from the Street. In the movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas plays a greedy, ruthless banker who hangs everyone out to dry in order to win. His motto is “greed is good”. Well, his character’s antics have turned out to be more reality than fiction as we uncover more real life blunders of Wall Street bankers. What does this have to do with our current markets? Everything, really. Since 2008, only select stocks have performed well in the overall market and the clean...

Tom Konrad CFA On July 23rd, Finavera Wind Energy (TSXV:FVR, OTC:FNVRF) announced a deal to sell its 77 megawatt Wildmare Wind Energy Project to Innergex Renewable Energy (TSX:INE, OTC:INGXF.)  The sale will come as a great releif to Finavera’s long-suffering shareholders, who have seen the stock halve in value since the start of the year. I included Finavera in my annual list of clean energy stocks this January because, even at the time, Finavera was trading at a fraction of the value of its wind projects, despite a weak balance sheet.  Since then,...

Meg Cichon Geothermal well photo via Bigstock With climate threats and increased energy demand, South American countries are set to develop their vast geothermal potential. Will developers be able to acquire investment and favorable policy? If any part of the world should be concerned about the effects of climate change, it is South America. Despite contributing some of the lowest emissions globally, many of the countries in the region are As South America’s population is expected to rise 72% by 2035, the impact of climate...

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...

by Debra Fiakas CFA The stark reality of basing their business model on a food commodity has been brought into sharp focus for ethanol producers.  The drought settling across the U.S. corn crop is helping drive up corn prices for hog producers, chicken farms and ethanol plants alike.  Investors who simply must have a position in ethanol might think the sugarcane-based ethanol producers could offer a safe haven against the supply and margin squeeze that is certain to hobble GreenPlains Renewable Energy (GPRE:  Nasdaq), Pacific Ethanol (PEIX:  Nasdaq) and Poet (private), among others relying on corn feedstock....

Tom Konrad CFA   My friend and frequent electric vehicle (EV) critic John Petersen recently worried that Tesla (NASD:TSLA) shareholders now buying the stock because of the launch of the company’s new Model S were doomed to lose money, since the company is just entering the “trough of disillusionment,” as shown in this stylized diagram of the losses a company suffers in the Valley of Death from Osawa and Miyazaki. Although Petersen is relentlessly negative on EVs, he has a great depth of experience with launching new technologies, and...

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,...

We are happy to have The Modern Energy Forum as an advertiser on AltEnergyStocks.com once again. The 2012 Modern Energy Conference will be held in Denver from September 5 to September 7, 2012. Details of the the conference will be posted on AltEnergyStocks.com soon - for now, we encourage you to visit their site and have a look.

Steve Leone Sen. Mark Udall Colorado Senator Mark Udall is persistent by nature. He's a mountain climber who has scaled some of the world's most daunting peaks, from Mount McKinley in Alaska to Mount Aconcagua in the Andes. That dogged pursuit has served him well in his recent career spent navigating the perilous cliffs of Washington's Capitol Hill. And now he has at least one more mountain to climb the seemingly intractable extension of the Production Tax Credit (PTC), the wind industry's defining subsidy and the...

Jim Lane Arch-critic of the cost of military biofuels Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe comes under scrutiny over earmarks for natural gas-based military fuels that cost 29 times more than conventional fuels. In Washington, the battle over advanced military biofuels took a turn for the bizarre this week, amidst revelations that a leading Senate sponsor of legislation to restrict Navy purchases of advanced biofuels, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, had previously secured earmarks for Syntroleum Corporation (SYNM) to produce natural gas-to-liquid alternative fuels which were priced 29 times higher than conventional fuels. Overall, Syntroleum reported receiving nearly $6...

by Debra Fiakas CFA Source:  Chicago Board of Exchange Two months ago GreenShift Corporation (GERS:  OTC) ambitiously promised to introduce by the end of 2012 an improved corn oil extraction system.   The company has developed technology to extract oil more from corn used as feedstock by ethanol producers.  GreenShift claims its first system is recovering an incremental 0.8 pounds of oil per bushel of corn in current installations.  The new system  -  called COES  II  -  is expected to increase the oil yields to 1.3 pounds  - ...

Steve Leone Trade War. photo via Bigstock A SolarWorld coalition of European-based manufacturers officially filed a trade complaint in Brussels late Wednesday, eliciting a strong response from leading Chinese manufacturers and setting the stage for a process that could further shake up the global solar industry. SolarWorld’s (SRWRF) Germany-based operation was certainly emboldened by the thus-far successful initiative launched by its American subsidiary in the United States, where modules with Chinese cells from leading manufacturers are being hit with preliminary tariffs totaling about...

Tom Konrad CFA The Windstar Wind Farm. Photo credit: Western Wind Energy Yesterday, I wrote about Western Wind Energy’s (TSXV:WND, OTC:WNDEF) plans to increase the 1603 cash grant for their Windstar wind farm.  But that was not the only thing discussed in Monday’s conference call. Investor Frustration During the Q&A, many investors were concerned about Western Wind’s recent deal to acquire a 4 GW wind development pipeline from Champlin/GEI Wind Holdings.   The concern was that the company would be issuing 8 million shares for the assets, but the company...

Tom Konrad CFA The Windstar Wind Farm. Photo credit: Western Wind Energy On July 10, shares of Western Wind Energy (TSX:WND, OTC:WNDEF)plummeted because of a $12.2 million shortfall in the 1603 cash grant from the US Treasury for the company’s Windstar wind farm compared to the application.  In order to reassure skittish investors, the company held a conference call on Monday, July 16. On the tenth, I thought that investors should write off the 1603 cash grant shortfall, despite the fact that the company intended to send a delegation...

John Petersen July has been a ghastly month for stockholders of A123 Systems (AONE) who've watched in horror as the stock price collapsed from $1.30 on July 5th to $0.49 at Friday's close. While there was unfavorable news of a director resignation yesterday, all the other news over the last month has been positive, at least at first blush. In my view the market activity was both predictable and directly attributable to recent toxic financing transactions that will have A123 printing stock faster than Ben Bernanke is printing dollars for the foreseeable future. I'd love to be able...

Tom Konrad CFA Last week, when Lime Energy (NASD:LIME) announced that an internal investigation by its audit committee had revealed up to $15 million in misreported revenue, my first instinct was to sell, especially because the misreported revenue included not only revenue assigned to the wrong period, but possibly completely fictitious revenue.  Whenever a company reveals accounting problems, it's bad.  But there are levels of bad. As Garvin Jabusch, Cofounder and CIO of Green Alpha Advisors and manager of the Sierra Club Green Alpha Portfolio put...