Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2016: August Earnings
Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA My Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2016 model portfolio continued to coast upward in August after five months of blistering performance since February, while clean energy sector benchmarks and real managed portfolio, the Green Global Equity Income Portfolio (GGEIP), pulled back slightly. The following chart shows the performance of the model portfolio and its sub-portfolios against their benchmarks. The portfolio, its growth and income subportfolios, and GGEIP all remain far ahead of their benchmarks. Second quarter earnings announced this month were neutral or positive for the income...
My Portfolio’s Latest Casualty And Addition
The Casualty Last Monday, I discussed how I had recently reviewed Railpower Tech with a view to potentially adding to my position on grounds that: (a) the company had a fair amount of cash in the bank, which reduced the need to go to capital markets for financing for a while; and (b) that it was getting badly battered by general market conditions, potentially offering an attractive entry point. Although my portfolio has taken a beating in recent weeks, I remain ready to take small positions in stocks if I feel they are being unfairly bashed, including in...
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...
10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2015- September Performance
by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA Sorry I did not have time to write the usual monthly update article this weekend, but I hope to get to it in the next couple weeks. Until then, here is how the stocks were doing through the end of September (click for larger version): The recent market downturn continues to make my relatively conservative picks (especially the income stocks) generally outperform. For the year, the model portfolio is down only 6% in dollar terms compared to its clean energy benchmark, which is down 30%, and almost...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2018: Stormy Winter
Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA
While the broad market has been turbulent for the start of 2018, clean energy stocks have fared worse than most. The Trump administration's anti-environmental efforts had little effect on clean energy stocks in 2017 (it was a banner year for this model portfolio). So far, this year has been quite different. Last year, investors seemed unfazed by the chaos in Washington, but with the single "win" of the Republican tax give-away to corporations, investors now seem to think that Trump may indeed be able to deliver on his polluter-funded agenda.
Income-oriented stocks have also been taking a...
Earnings Roundup: Metals Prices Boost Covanta and Umicore
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
You don’t have to own mining companies to benefit from rising metals prices.
This is a roundup of first quarter earnings notes shared with my Patreon supporters over the last week. Waste to energy operator Covanta and specialty metals recycler Umicore are both benefiting from skyrocketing metals prices.
Just as renewable energy and energy efficiency stocks have long shown that investors don’t have to own fossil fuel companies to benefit from rising prices of fossil fuels, recyclers like Covanta and Umicore are showing that you don’t have to own environmentally damaging mining companies to benefit from rising...
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...
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%. ...
Ten Clean Energy Stocks For 2015: Income Comes In First; Growth Shrinks
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%...
Shares in Energy Conversion Devices Purchased
Energy Conversion Devices Inc (ENER) opened up trading this morning with a gap down to the $33 level. For the last hour it has been steadily rising up from this point. As I said in my earlier post, I have been looking for a good entry point in this company and feel that the near term support of $33 is an ideal area to place an order. The stock has been on a run for several months and it is always hard to take a new position in a stock that has already seen dramatic increases...
The Quick Guide To A Green Stock Portfolio
Tom Konrad, CFA I recently published a quick guide to a green or fossil fuel free stock portfolio aimed at the small investor. For most people, the best options will be to use mutual funds or an investment advisor. Some of us like to do things ourselves, and build a portfolio from scratch, using individual stocks. Doing so could rapidly become a full-time job, but it does not have to be. Instead, you can use information which mutual funds disclose to piggy-back on their research. Garvin Jabusch, Co-Founder and CIO of Green Alpha Advisors in...
Two Canadian IPPs For Your Portfolio
Most alternative energy investors are aware of North American wind power's very bright growth prospects. In past articles, we discussed encouraging projections for the US and Canadian (PDF document) wind markets between now and 2015. While onshore European capacity is fast being exhausted, North America is only beginning its foray into wind and some major capex can be expected in this space over the coming years. Besides solid expected growth, another phenomenon is currently impacting the wind industry; consolidation. This is a global movement that is affecting all of the power gen sector, and that has no-doubt been...
Trading Alert: AAER Inc. (TSE:AAE)
I took 2 long positions yesterday (1 in my normal trading account and the other in my retirement account) in an emerging Canadian integrator of megawatt-sized wind energy conversion systems (i.e turbines) called AAER Inc . Besides turbine assembly, the company also provides a range of services to clients in the wind industry, ranging from assistance in project planning and financing to post-installation maintenance. Now it must be said from the outset that is a very speculative play on North American wind and not suitable for all investors. I entered one of my positions at C$0.38 and the...
Performance Update: 10 Clean Energy Stocks for 2009
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...
Finding a Bottom and Model Portfolio First Half Returns
By Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Even as the broad market rose, the start of 2021 was brutal for clean energy stocks. The sector experienced a bubble in late 2020 and January this year as optimism grew that we finally had a President who understands the magnitude of the climate problem and has committed to do something about it. The bubble also grew from the great hope that with the presidency and slim majorities in both houses of congress, he would actually be able to get his agenda through.
That might have happened if the Senate Republicans were interested in governing and...
Dipping a Toe in the Golden Stuff
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...
