Portfolio

And I'm not talking about gold, but I liked the play on this title. Last December, I wrote about a report that claimed that solar stocks were the best play on the cleantech revolution. In that article, I analyzed the two solar ETFs: the Claymore/Mac Global Solar Index ETF (TAN) and the Market Vectors/Van Eck Global Solar Energy ETF (KWT). At the end of the article, I said I had an open buy order on TAN. That buy order expired unfilled in January as the suckers rally progressed, but TAN then dropped to the...

Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA In the two months since my last "monthly" update, the stock market has been in turmoil.  At the end of June, I was pleased report that my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2015 model portfolio was not only up for the year, it was comfortably ahead of its benchmarks.  At the end of August, the report is of a more win-the-battle-lose-the-war variety. The portfolio is still ahead of its benchmarks, but it's now down 1% for the year to date. The portfolio lost 4.8% in July and 5.7% in August, to end...

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...

Scottish Power plc (SPI) is an electrical generation and distribution company primarily focused in the UK. They have two subsidiaries that are based in the US, PacificCorp and PPM Energy. They are currently in the process of trying to sell PacificCorp to Berkshire Hathaway. PPM Energy is a company with extensive wind energy development and generation. Scottish Power also has extensive wind farms in Scotland and Europe. They are also developing off-shore wind power of the Welsh coast. This stock has been moving strong recently and it looks like it is building a base at the $40...

Tom Konrad. CFA A "bonus" stock pick this year.  Also, notes on New Flyer Industries and Finavera Wind Energy. Maybe it was because Seeking Alpha did not carry my annual list of 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2012 this year, but no one seems to have noticed that there were actually 11 stocks in the list.  Call it the Spinal Tap of top-ten lists. If anyone did notice the extra pick, they didn't leave a comment.  What happened was that I have two number 8 stocks, but there is enough text...

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 Ph.D., CFA 2015 was a very tough year for energy stocks, especially income oriented energy stocks such as (mostly fossil fuel) MLPs and (mostly clean energy) Yieldcos.  Not only did oil and gas prices drop dramatically, but most other commodities did as well.  Low commodity prices hurt commodity producers, but also commodity recyclers and efficiency companies that help reduce the consumption. Against this backdrop, I'm happy that my Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2015 model portfolio ended the year in the black, with a 5.8%...

Tom Konrad, CFA A quick update of last month's list of speculative puts, to reflect the new options symbols. In January, I put together a list of nine puts and one small energy efficiency stock I expect to do well this year.  I normally only do updates on these every quarter, but because of the recent change option symbols, I thought I'd revisit my 10 Green Energy Gambles.  The links in the original article have stopped working; this new table shows the current list. Here's the list: with updated option symbols. Security Portfolio...

By Jeff Siegel There's no doubt about it: 2013 was a fantastic year for alternative energy investors. The big story this year was Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA). A company that we began touting years before the company even went public, Tesla soared this year, taking the stock from $34.71 in January to a high of $194.50 a share in September. Folks, a 460% gain from an electric car company in just nine months would've been laughable in 2013. Today, it's the one of the most hyped stories in the world of finance... And if you listened to me...

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%...

Tom Konrad CFA Some investors buy clean energy stocks because it's the right thing to do, others because we know that the diminishing availability and increasing environmental impacts of traditional fuels will eventually force society to adopt more sustainable solutions.  Cartoonist Scott Adams says we're all wrong, and we should invest in companies we hate.  Although Adams' column is meant to amuse, rather than as investment advice, it's funny because he touches on two very important truths about investing. Although a few investors can outperform the market over the long run, the vast majority can't,...

Tom Konrad CFA Few investors have good memories of 2008, but when it comes to the performance of my annual model portfolio of ten clean energy stocks, I'm finding the resemblance to 2008 remarkably striking.  The good part of that memory is that my picks are once again out-performing my clean energy benchmark, the PowerShares Clean Energy ETF (PBW).  The bad news is that "out-performance" means down 44% for the portfolio, compared to down 48% for PBW: a Pyrrhic victory.  Over the same period, the broad market Russell 2000 index was down 22%.  For 2008,...

The fears of Rita have fallen away and the market is finally moving to the upside again this morning. I have been watching IdaTech (IDA) for purchase for a couple of weeks and I had previously mentioned I have been looking for a good entry point on this stock. IDAcorp is an Idaho power utility with electrical generation using Hydro, Natural Gas, and Coal. They also own IDATech which manufactures fuel cell solutions. I'm waiting on this one until the technical picture of the chart improves. I would be a buyer if we can either get...

by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA Since I have not had much time to write for AltEnegyStocks, I thought I'd share with readers some notes I wrote for investors in the JPS Green Economy Fund, a hedge fund for which I'm director of Research, regarding our holdings in the third quarter: In the third quarter, we took advantage of the general decline of clean energy "YieldCos" to add two of these owners of wind and solar farms to our portfolio at attractive yields.  Pattern Energy Group (PEGI) is an owner of wind farms having long term power purchase agreements...

Tom Konrad, CFA I never thought 2009 would be a good year for risky stocks, but my readers asked for them anyway.  The market's strong third quarter have paid off for risk-takers who gambled on my 10 Green Energy Gambles for 2009. I started out the year by providing readers with a portfolio of ten relatively conservative plays on green energy.  That portfolio was representative of how I planned to approach the market this year, and has produced stronger returns and less volatility when compared to both green energy stocks and the market as a whole.  Many of my...

Tom Konrad CFA Clean energy stocks and the market in general rebounded strongly in August.  My broad market benchmark of small cap stocks, IWM,  rose 4.5%, returning to positive territory up 1.7% for the year. My clean energy benchmark PBW also jumped back into the black with an 11.1% gain for the month and 10.8% for the year to date.  The less volatile defensive stocks in my 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2014 model portfolio rose 1.9%.  For the year to...