My initial guess is it will in the long term solar will continue to be a consistent source of alternative energy for America. Now to be honest this is such a difficult area to invest in because for me I don't have alot of information on how to separate the good solar companies from the bad. Today, I truly felt like I left a good opportunity on the table while I was doing my research yesterday. I am going to fault the great American gymnasts for slightly distracting me as I was reading a story that was HEADLINED on Yahoo's front page. It was describing a large deal for solar technology that is taking place in California. So I clicked on the following story:
TWO LARGE SOLAR PLANTS PLANNED FOR CALIFORNIA
After reading the story I followed in the footsteps of one of my investing mentors, Peter Lynch, and began researching some of the key companies mentioned (OptiSolar, PG&E, and Sunpower). My only problem was the Olympics didn't allow me to do a very detailed review of the article above. I read the article and decided that the PG&E was not going to be my main focus because they may benefit in the long term from a large exposure from solar technology they will be spending capital in the short term to get there. However, I was very interested in the companies providing the solar equipment to PG&E which would be OptiSolar and Sunpower. Now with a quick read of that article you its focus is mainly on OptiSolar and I decided to find the company website and determine if this was a public company or could provide an additional lead to an investment. Now what you didn't hear me mention was a review of Sunpower to determine if they were a public company. There lied my mistake because I overlooked the second company, which didn't have as much of a focus during the story, and missed a great opportunity to cash in on this news early.
So as I did some light research on this lovely Friday evening, I learned that Sunpower (the second company) was up 18% today on news that it looks to sign big deals like the one announced with PG&E. You win some and I guess you miss some.
On another note, I have found a solar ETF (KWT) that could provide you with exposure to this growing sector without having to pick just one.
Buffet Note:
I should probably pay just as much attention to his recent additions in his portfolio but the more suprising news is the addition of an energy company, NRG Energy. This company is currently down 18% since that addition and now that this has been disclosed this stock will benefit from the Buffett Effect. NRG is up 5%, even as most energy firms are declining today.
Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts
Friday, August 15, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
Kenya IPO / National City / The New Gold??
Kenya IPO - Safaricom
Back in March, I wrote about Safaricom the telecom giant of Kenya. This recommendation highlights a great way where communicating with your friends leads to great stock recommendations. After understanding the risks involved, I noted that this would be a great play in the international markets especially because the local US environment isn't exactly overflowing with gigantic returns. I was pleased to read today the Safaricom's Initial Public Offering rose roughly 50% today. The one difficulty the average investor may have run into is that because it was an international IPO there weren't as many ways to participate in this offering outside of having some type of link to Morgan Stanley an advisor to Safaricom. Check out our earlier discussion here: http://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-edition-urb-in-60-seconds.html
NATIONAL CITY - IS IT TIME TO BUY???
National City (NYSE: NCC) dropped over 83 percent in the previous 12 months. Time after time we have continued to comment about the weakness in the financial sector. Need more proof, check out Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and National City as examples of banks under fire and almost under water. I got a call the other day from a friend who said is it time to buy, so I began my research of this company and turned up some positive information. I was surprised and comforted by the recent upgrades by Deutsche Bank AG and KBW. However, I also stumbled along an article about the fact that NCC is under a Memorandum of Understanding or MOU with a regulatory banking agency. From my experience of auditing banks, an MOU is not a good look. As a matter of fact is down right ugly and means that the regulators are not very happy with your financial standing as a bank that is federally insured by the government. I also read that NCC book value price, if all the assets were sold, would roughly place the share price at $4.70. However my only problem is that some analysts may be placing value on some assets that no longer have value. So I am recommending at this point that if you truly want to own this stock, take the book value and discount this price to the point that you can sleep easy at night. I am not in a hurry to catch a bottom for financial stocks, so stay tuned to see if I change my mind.
THE NEW GOLD
The new gold will be solar or wind energy. I've got some views on both of these areas so check back with me soon.
Back in March, I wrote about Safaricom the telecom giant of Kenya. This recommendation highlights a great way where communicating with your friends leads to great stock recommendations. After understanding the risks involved, I noted that this would be a great play in the international markets especially because the local US environment isn't exactly overflowing with gigantic returns. I was pleased to read today the Safaricom's Initial Public Offering rose roughly 50% today. The one difficulty the average investor may have run into is that because it was an international IPO there weren't as many ways to participate in this offering outside of having some type of link to Morgan Stanley an advisor to Safaricom. Check out our earlier discussion here: http://urbanomics.blogspot.com/2008/03/march-edition-urb-in-60-seconds.html
NATIONAL CITY - IS IT TIME TO BUY???
National City (NYSE: NCC) dropped over 83 percent in the previous 12 months. Time after time we have continued to comment about the weakness in the financial sector. Need more proof, check out Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and National City as examples of banks under fire and almost under water. I got a call the other day from a friend who said is it time to buy, so I began my research of this company and turned up some positive information. I was surprised and comforted by the recent upgrades by Deutsche Bank AG and KBW. However, I also stumbled along an article about the fact that NCC is under a Memorandum of Understanding or MOU with a regulatory banking agency. From my experience of auditing banks, an MOU is not a good look. As a matter of fact is down right ugly and means that the regulators are not very happy with your financial standing as a bank that is federally insured by the government. I also read that NCC book value price, if all the assets were sold, would roughly place the share price at $4.70. However my only problem is that some analysts may be placing value on some assets that no longer have value. So I am recommending at this point that if you truly want to own this stock, take the book value and discount this price to the point that you can sleep easy at night. I am not in a hurry to catch a bottom for financial stocks, so stay tuned to see if I change my mind.
THE NEW GOLD
The new gold will be solar or wind energy. I've got some views on both of these areas so check back with me soon.
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