Portfolio

It's been six weeks since I last provided readers with an update on the Paper Portfolio.  According to the guidelines I laid out there, stocks are added to the portfolio when Chares or I mention them positively for the first time (leaving out ones for which Yahoo! finance does not have historical data, which are mostly pink sheet stocks.)  Here are the ones we've added since then. Stock Article Date Added Price Price 9/5/07 DOW Investing in energy Efficient Homes 7/24/07 $47.20 $42.20 OC Investing in energy Efficient Homes 7/24/07 $33.00 $24.26 ...

In my article about electrical transmission, I mentioned that I liked Composite Technology Corp. (CPTC.OB). I became increasingly bullish on this stock as a result of my changing understanding while I was researching the article. The article then initiated an email conversation with a long-time investor, where I learned more about the company's business. As a result, I just purchased more of the stock (at $1.33, using a limit order), quadrupling my initial position (acquired in February at $.91. My current average cost basis is $1.23.) Several of my clients also own...

I promised I'd do a performance update on my 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2009 each quarter.  Here is the first (although readers got a mini-update in mid February, because I decided I didn't want to use double-shorts.) Company  Ticker Change 12/27/08 to 3/27/09 Dividend & Interest The Algonquin Power Income Trust AGQNF.PK +7.14% 5.36% Cree, Inc. CREE +59.96%   First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF FAN -10.73%   General Electric GE -32.50% 1.94% Johnson Controls JCI -25.97% 0.77% New Flyer...

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...

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...

Monthly update on NYSE:HASI, TSX:PFB,TSX:CSE,TSX:PRI,Amsterdam:ACCEL,TSX:NFI,NASD:AMRC,NYSE:PW,TSX:AXY,TSX:RPG,TSX:FVR

Joel Makower has a written a good article about how "young financial analysts are extremely skeptical about the relevance" of investing in Alternative Energy and other environmental issues. You can read his article and also view the full report via Joel's website.

Fredric Ruffy from Optionetics.com has written a cautionary article about investing in Alternative Energy stocks. If alternative fuel companies made lots of money, there would be no energy crisis today. Unfortunately, most of these companies don't. You will start to see more and more stories about this sector now that gas prices are starting to cross the $3 per gallon mark and head even higher. As I said in a previous article, this sector is currently in a trading market. While he cautions investors that are looking for the long term viability of this investment, he...

I'm continuing to make changes to the site behind the scenes.One major change that I'm going to institute is to provide greater transparency in my own Alt E portfolio. The goal of this change is not for ego but to prove that this sector can be profitable for your portfolio. In future posts you will see everything, the winners, the losers, and also the what and why of each investment decision. This was one of the most frequent requests made by many website visitors. The news stories will be fewer and more focused. This will give me more time...

Hans Deuel at Clearfish Research presents some very good concerns about the possible manipulation of the shares of XSUNX Inc. (XSNX). I've received a number of comments about XsunX, all from the same person. I decided to look into them. They are working on transparent solar cells, have a weird history, and a weird structure. The only technological information I can find on them is all paid advertising (from IPODesktop and others) masquerading as research. Each of their press releases are misleading. They offer one key statement, and then go on about intentions. For example, the latest one...

Tom Konrad CFA April showers fell on both the broad market and clean energy stocks last month, but my picks weathered the storm relatively well.  My clean energy benchmark (PBW) was down 5.9% since the last update, and my broad market benchmark (IWM) fell 1.7%.  Meanwhile 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2014 model portfolio also fell 1.7%.  For the year so far, the clean energy benchmark is up 4.5%, having given back most of its large February gains, while the broad market is down 2.5%.  My model portfolio is up 2.2%, having...

This year, I published a list of 10 clean energy stocks I thought people should buy, and, because of readers' requests, also published a list of ten speculative clean energy companies.  For the most part, these speculative companies were chosen because they have compelling technology or manufacturing capability, but were not profitable or were only marginally profitable, and they had been beaten up because they would likely all need to raise money this year. That means that if the financial crisis eases quickly, these companies should be able to raise money on favorable terms.  If the crisis continues or...

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...

Tom Konrad, CFA If you like to take risks, want to fight climate change and prepare for the impact of peak oil, and would also like a chance to make a big return on your investments, here are ten investments you can make that might do all of those things.  Note (4/28/2010): A performance update for these picks is available here A small part of my portfolio is usually in small, risky green companies with the promise of big returns.  This year, however, I'm too bearish to own many small, risky companies, but I'm still making some long-shot bets...

I purchased some more Beacon Power Corp. (NASDAQ:BCON) on Friday after watching the stock slowly dwindle over the past 2 weeks back toward its 3-month low. I purchased it at $1.07 Beacon Power makes flywheel-based, environmentally-friendly energy storage devices that can help smooth out supply-demand swings in electricity grids, notably by storing base-load power and releasing it during peak-load periods. More on Beacon Power’s flywheel technology. Beacon is not a company that looks particularly attractive fundamentally at the moment. For Q3 2006, the company reported a net loss of $3,165,000, or -$0.06 per share, on...

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...