Why Do Green Energy Experts Buy Solar Stocks?
Tom Konrad CFA Green energy experts accept that solar panels are one of the least cost effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint. Nevertheless, many buy solar stocks. They should rethink their investment strategies. I recently spoke on "Stock Selection in the Era of Peak Oil and Climate Change" at the ASPO 2009 International Peak Oil Conference. Whenever green energy enthusiasts find out that I analyze green energy stocks professionally, they react in one of two ways. Many want to know my top stock pick in general (New Flyer Industries NFI-UN.TO/NFYIF.PK) or in their favorite sector (see below.) ...
Stock Market Advice for Solar Energy Investors
J. Peter Lynch I have been reading your articles for years and always thought your stock market related insight was interesting and helpful for me as an investor. At the current time I am worried about the market and am wondering where you think the market is currently, given the major run up we have had in the past year. I would also be curious about your view on solar stocks and what you see for them. Claude M., France. Claude, great questions. You are really going to make me think about this one. Sorry...
SolarCity’s Brilliant Marketing Plan
By Jeff Siegel DISCLOSURE: Long SCTY. Well here's a sweet marketing plan. . . In an effort to get to homeowners before they actually buy their homes, SolarCity is working with homebuilders in Oregon to offer solar to potential buyers. Essentially, SolarCity (NASDAQ:SCTY) will be giving future homeowners the opportunity to save on their energy bills from day one without paying a single penny more for their homes. Brilliant! SolarCity reps commented on the new plan, stating. . . Solar power delivers distinct benefits for homebuilders and homebuyers. While many upgrades and additions to homes...
What Does 2013 Hold for Solar? Predictions From Four Green Money Managers
Tom Konrad What will the New Year hold for Clean Energy? For the people who manage clean energy portfolios, mutual funds, and indexes the question is more than idle curiosity. Getting the answer right means finding the stocks which will put a shine on your solar portfolio’s returns. Getting it wrong means the competition will blow away your wind stocks. I asked my network of green money managers what they thought, and they gave me a lot more than I expected. This is the start of a series on the predictions and stock picks from my...
DayStar Technologies Receives Technology Innovation of the Year Award in the CIGS Photovoltaic Cells...
DayStar Technologies Inc (DSTI) was awared the 2005 Technology Innovation of the Year Award in the field of copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) photovoltaic cells. Each year this Award is given to a company that has carried out new research, which has resulted in innovations that have brought, or are expected to bring, significant contributions to the industry in terms of adoption, change and competitive posture. This Award recognizes the quality and depth of a company's research and development program along with vision and risk-taking efforts that enabled it to undertake such an endeavor. It's nice to see that...
Shares of Carmanah Purchased
Wouldn't you know it, right after I posted about this company and complained that I couldn't buy it, I checked my brokerage account to see if there was any movement to my open market order. Well the IntraWeb gods must have been smiling on me, I got a partial fill in my personal account. So I now have a small stake in Carmanah Tech Corp (CMH.V) at a price of $3.0525. Maybe I should post my complaints more often :-) DISCLAIMER: I am not a registered investment advisor. The information and trades that I provide here...
SunPower raises IPO price to $16-$18 per share
Solar power equipment maker SunPower Corp., a unit of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (CY) raised the expected price of its planned initial public offering to between $16 and $18 per share from a previous range of $12 to $14. The company expects to list its stock on the Nasdaq under the symbol "SPWR" sometime this week. I have always found the IPOHome.com website helpful tracking this type of information down. You can also find a great deal of info at NASDAQ.com as well for new IPO's.
Advanced Solar Energy System to Provide Nearly 50% of Power for NY Science Center
Northern Power Systems, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp (DESC), has received a grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to construct and install a state-of-the-art photovoltaic (solar) energy system at the Black Rock Forest Consortium's Center for Science and Education in Cornwall, New York. The building that will incorporate Northern's solar energy system is both a cutting-edge research center and a sustainable energy facility, utilizing technologies such as self-composting toilets, solar radiation, and geothermal heating and cooling systems. The site also has a sophisticated data acquisition system in place for research...
Evergreen Solar Files $75 Million Shelf Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange...
Evergreen Solar Inc (ESLR) announced the filing of a registration statement on Form S-3 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. After the registration statement is declared effective by the SEC, the Company will be able to offer and sell up to an aggregate of $75 million of its common stock, preferred stock, depositary shares, warrants and debt securities from time to time in one or more public offerings. The terms of any such future offerings will be established at the time of such offerings.
RWE SCHOTT Solar Installs Greece’s Largest Solar Roof
In time for the Olympic Games RWE SCHOTT Solar has begun operation of the country’s largest rooftop solar-energy unit in Athens. Supported by its Greek and German partners, this will help the company to further strengthen its market position in Greece. RWE SCHOTT Solar Inc. is a joint venture of the RWE Group (RWEOY), a global international multi-utility concern with core businesses in electricity, gas, water, waste management and recycling; and the SCHOTT Group, a leading international specialty glass manufacturer.
Konarka Acquires Siemens’ Organic Photovoltaic Research Activities; Union of Top Research Efforts Enhances Konarka’s...
Privately held Konarka Technologies, Inc. announced it has acquired Siemens AG's organic photovoltaic research activities. The acquisition brings together two leading efforts to develop and commercialize a new generation of photovoltaics that are inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture and versatile. These new plastic power cells will make it possible for any electronic device or structure to carry its own on-board source of renewable energy.
Evergreen Solar Added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 Indexes
Evergreen Solar Inc (ESLR) announced that the Company is scheduled to join the Russell 2000® and Russell 3000® indexes. The newly reconstituted Russell indexes will become effective at the close of the U.S. markets on June 24, 2005.
Dark Clouds Threaten German Clean Energy Ambitions
John Petersen During the fourteen years that I've lived in Switzerland, the Germans have been the world's staunchest supporters of green power and alternative energy. Their aggressive development of wind power was breathtaking, as was their warm embrace of photovoltaic power. Over the last few weeks, however, there has been an ominous change in the mainstream German media's tone as the political class finally comes to grips with the unpleasant reality that rooftop solar panels are worthless on short, grey winter days and "For weeks now, the 1.1 million solar power systems in Germany have generated almost no...
First Solar and SunPower Lobby Shareholders to Sell 8point3 YieldCo
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
Will shareholders accept the deal?
On Monday, 8point3 Energy Partners, the joint YieldCo from First Solar and SunPower, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Capital Dynamics.
When public companies are sold, it's almost always at a premium to the market price. It's that price premium that persuades shareholders to sell. So why would 8point3 (NASD: CAFD) shareholders accept a deal that offers them only $12.35, or 15 to 20 percent below the roughly $15 price CAFD has been trading around for the past three months?
To answer this question, we need a little history.
Jan Schalkwijk, founder...
SunPower and SolarWorld: Strange Bedfellows
by Paula Mints
Oh, what a tangled web you weave when vying for an exclusion from tariffs via strategic ac-quisition. In April, SunPower (SPWR) announced it had acquired (subject to regulatory approval) So-larWorld US, subsidiary of the company that kicked off the solar tariff dispute with a petition in 2012, focused on China as the dumper of cells and modules. SolarWorld GmbH, based in Germany, could not file the petition. It needed its US subsidiary to do so. As SolarWorld US is, currently, the only crystalline cell manufacturer in the US, it takes on a value beyond the sum of...
FPL to try solar power in South Florida
FPL Group Inc (FPL) plans to build a small solar energy facility in South Florida next year as part of a program that encourages electricity customers to pay an extra fee to support clean power. About 9,000 customers have agreed to pay an additional $9.75 on their monthly electricity bills to support renewable energy through the company's Sunshine Energy program. The company has agreed to build 150 kilowatts of solar power capacity in Florida for every 10,000 customers who sign up, and it expects to pass that mark within a month or so.