Blue Sphere To Start Biogas Commercial Operations
by Debra Fiakas CFA The Blue Sphere, Inc. (BLSP: OTC/QB), stock price has weakened in recent months as investors registered their apparent frustration with fundamental developments. Proposed acquisitions of operating biogas power plants in Italy have taken much longer than expected and majority interest in planned biogas plants in the U.S. were sold into joint venture arrangements rather than held as 100% equity positions. Despite these developments, Blue Sphere management has doggedly moved forward on all fronts and there has been measurable progress toward first revenue. Commercial operation dates have been set for...
Clean Energy Stocks Shopping List: Landfill Gas and Geothermal
Stocks seem expensive now, but that may not last. Here are two Landfill Gas stocks and three Geothermal stocks I'm hoping to buy if the market falters. Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA This article continues my Clean Energy Stocks Shopping List series. So far I've brought you: Five clean transport stocks, I looked at why it makes sense to wait for better prices, Five Energy Efficiency stocks (always my favorite sector), and Five Electric Transmission Stocks. This article takes a look at two of the most economical clean electricity generation technologies, landfill gas and geothermal. Kilowatts from...
Covanta: Comfort In An Ample Dividend
by Debra Fiakas CFA In late August 2015, volatility turned its frightening countenance on the U.S. equity market. The volatility measure for the S&P 500 Index (VIX) spiked to a peak of 53.29 during trading on August 24th. While things have calmed down since, volatility remains well above the 20.00 level where many investors consider it too precarious to take new equity positions. At time like these it makes sense to seek the warm comfort of an ample dividend. Those regular cash rewards can make it worthwhile waiting for stock prices to calm down. Within...
The Muscle Car Of Energy Efficiency
Tom Konrad CFA Disclosure: I am long TSX:PRI / PENGF. The poster child of energy efficiency has long been changing a light bulb. First, it was swapping out an incandescent for a compact fluorescent, now the swap is to an LED. Changing a light bulb is a small step that anyone can take, and it’s so cost effective that it can pay for itself in months if the bulb is used frequently. This is a good example of household energy efficiency measures: a small action requiring a limited investment that anyone can take that pays back quickly....
Ten Solid Clean Energy Companies to Buy on the Cheap: #3 Waste Management, Inc....
In large part, the transition to clean energy will involve using our resources much more efficiently than we do now. One large potential feedstock for biofuels (and arguably the only one which is truly sustainable) is our trash. As the world economy grows, and the available stock of natural resources diminishes, society will have no choice but to use what we have more efficiently and throw less of it away. In addition to the now familiar recycling of Aluminum, glass, cardboard, paper, and plastic, yard and construction waste will find its way to cellulosic ethanol plants, and used cooking...
Advanced biofuels pioneer Terrabon files for chapter 7 bankruptcy: One-off or trend?
Jim Lane Closely-watched green gasoline producer collapses as Waste Management (WM) declines next financing round. What does it mean for companies like Fulcrum Bioenergy, Enerkem, Agilyx, Agnion, Renmatix, Genomatica, and InEnTec? The Digest looks at the inside story. In Texas, Terrabon filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection; the company’s operations will cease and a trustee will be tasked with liquidating the company’s assets for the benefit of creditors. The complete Chapter 7 announcement is here. In a statement, Terrabon’s leadership said that company could not obtain additional corporate funding to finish developing and engineering its...
WSTE Not, Want Not
Tom Konrad CFA A truly sustainable economy would produce no waste: everything would be recycled or reused for some productive purpose. We're a long way from that ideal today, but the rising cost of commodities makes recovering used material through recycling increasingly economic. Further, the rising cost of energy makes converting municipal and industrial waste into advanced biofuels or combusting it to produce electricity an increasingly economic option. Attempting to guess which advanced biofuel technology will be successful strikes me as a fool's errand. Why not instead invest in the owners of the feedstock? While I don't...
Focus On Clean Power Income Trusts
Last week, Tom brought you a piece on the Algonquin Power Income Fund (AGQNF.PK), in which he opined that shift in investor attention away from capital gains toward yield might eventually provide a catalyst for the prices of yield-focused securities such as income trusts to rise. So-called utility trusts, or income trusts where the underlying corporation is engaged in utility activities such as power generation, are a common feature of the Canadian income trust sector (the mother of all income trust sectors). A sub-set of utility trusts is the clean power utility trust, where the power generation...
Earnings Roundup: Covanta, NFI Group, Green Plains Partners
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Earnings Season Continues
Below are three more updates on second quarter earnings which I've been sharing with my Patreon supporters. If you'd like to support my writing and see those thoughts in a more timely manner, consider becoming a patron. becoming a patron.
For everyone else, I'm reprinting those thoughts below.
Covanta Earnings
(published August 2nd)
Waste to energy company Covanta Holding Corp (CVA) saw most of its business recovering towards the end of the second quarter. Management is reluctant to predict if the positive trend will continue into the third quarter and for the rest of the year, but...
Covanta Accelerating Zero-Waste-to-Landfill
Last week Covanta (CVA: NYSE) opened a new materials processing facility in Indianapolis, increasing waste handling capacity by 500%. The waste handler has been in operation in the community for three decades, collecting and processing over 2,100 tons of solid waste every day to steam energy in a waste-to-energy incinerator. Citizen Thermal Energy buys the steam to heat the buildings of its commercial customers.
The new materials processing facility increases Covanta’s waste handling capacity. The company is targeting manufacturers in the Indianapolis area that are still sending wastes to landfills. Covanta wants to collect more waste as well as attract waste types unique to manufacturers that need...
Covanta and Hannon Armstrong Earnings
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D. CFA
Two more earnings notes I shared with my Patreon followers on February 18th.
Covanta Holdings (CVA)
Leading waste-to-energy firm Covanta Holdings (CVA) announced 2020 earnings today. There will be a conference call tomorrow morning, but here is my high-level impression:
The company managed well through Covid and ended the year within it's original pre-covid guidance. Metals and energy prices, as well as increased maintenance capital expenditures were a drag on results, but prices are improving and capital expenditures will fall in 2021.
The company is conducting a strategic review which will likely result in the sale of some underperforming...
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...
Fulcrum Bioenergy’s $115M IPO: The 10-Minute Version
Jim Lane The first zero-cost feedstock biofuels company comes to the public markets with its IPO. Like to see how this “Back the the Futuresque” technology unlocks value by converting household garbage into transportation fuel? Here’s our 10-minute version of the IPO from Fulcrum Bioenergy. In California, Fulcrum Bioenergy has filed an S-1 registration statement for a proposed $115 million initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. The company proposes to list under the symbol FLCM. UBS Investment Bank...
Plastic Bottle-neck
by Debra Fiakas, CFA
In September 2019, the California State Assembly sent out legislation that sets a 10% recycled plastic mandate by 2021 and increases the hurdle rate to 50% by 2030. The law covers plastic bottles that are already covered under the state’s container redemption program. Companies will need to use plastic bottles made from recycled plastic such that at least a minimum percentage of the plastic used meets the mandate.
Environmentalists and even consumers might be celebrating the new law, but the plastic recycling industry could be less than jubilant. The recycling news feed is peppered with headlines that reveal some fraying...
UTC Power Introduces the PureCycle 200 Power System: Recycles Waste Heat to Produce Electricity...
United Technologies Corp (UTX) states that their UTC Power division has announced the arrival of the PureCycle(TM) 200 power system, a unique heat-to-electricity technology that recycles waste heat as free fuel to generate electricity. The PureCycle(TM) 200 system operates without emissions and is completely pollution-free, employing a closed-cycle process using technology developed by UTC's Carrier division. In principle, the PureCycle(TM) 200 works like a reverse air-conditioner. Energy is absorbed into the system by a liquid refrigerant that vaporizes when heated. The hot vapor turns a turbine, which drives a generator to create electricity. Later, the hot vapor circulates...
Covanta: The Big Player In Waste-to-Energy
by Debra Fiakas CFA Covanta Holding Corp. (CVA: NYSE) is among the largest waste-to-energy developers and producers in the U.S. The company couples waste collection services for local government and industry with power generation for local municipal or commercial customers. Covanta’s waste handling and ‘mass-burn’ process also allows for metal recovery and sales. The company operates forty-six waste-to-energy facilities mostly in North America supported by eighteen waste transfer stations and four ash landfills. Covanta is a big player in the waste-to-energy industry, but what kind of yield does it's stock offer investors? Covanta’s management team...
