Investing in Renewable Energy Stocks

Dear Reader,

You know better than anyone that I love a good oil story.

But as I told you earlier this week, we need to develop every source of energy we have available to us. That means renewable sources as well.

During this ongoing energy transition, my colleague Nick Hodge has been crushing it on the cleantech side of things. His years of experience in the still-young renewable energy field has led his readers to 30 winners already this year.

Nick recently shared his secret for success with his Green Chip Review readers. And I think his insight is more than worth passing on to you today.

More and more energy analysts are — all of a sudden — billing themselves "renewable energy gurus." But believe me, there’s no one on that side of the business making calls like this guy is.

Enjoy,

Keith

Knowing which stocks to buy and when is a beautiful thing.

It’s a skill that’s beyond difficult to master but, once perfected, can have life-changing implications. And it can be a bit easier if you focus exclusively on specific sectors.

Someone claiming to be able to rattle off winning stock advice on any company with a ticker — Cramer comes to mind — is either lying in the first place or has never been held fully accountable. (A recent study of his picks showed that his risk-adjusted returns were barely above the market average.)

But honing in on one sector, like Green Chip Stocks has been doing for years, has allowed us to become intimately familiar with a certain group of stocks. So much so that I’m confidently familiar with dozens of companies pursuing clean technology — both the good ones and the bad ones.

For instance, I know the comfortable price ranges for no less than ten Chinese solar stocks. I know where they should be trading based on future earnings forecasts; how well their peers (other Chinese solar stocks) are doing; outside factors like government; and most importantly, investor confidence.

And it’s what allows me to give an edge to readers of the Alternative Energy Speculator, day in and day out. It’s how I’ve helped them play the same Chinese solar stock SIX TIMES for profit in the past eight months:

And we’re back in that same stock right now. . . even as you read this!

That’s more than a fluke. That’s more than luck.

That’s knowing exactly where a stock should be trading and pouncing on every opportunity it presents — that’s the Alternative Energy Speculator.

And it’s not just JA Solar. . . my readers closed ten other Chinese solar winners in the same time.

And solar stocks aren’t the only plays coming up big. . . from wind to water, we’ve closed 30 winners so far this year in everything cleantech.

A Clean-Tech Case Study

In early June, I put out a new buy recommendation to my my readers. It went something like this:

I wanted to take a minute this morning to bring your attention to our smart grid plays.

We’re currently doing well with XXX and XXX. They’re up 38% and 18%, respectively. We’ve only held the latter for six days!

XXX, which also has exposure to the smart grid, is up 13%.

And we’ve successfully played Intellon (NASDAQ: ITLN), Comverge (NASDAQ: COMV), and American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC) in the past.

We’ll revisit past plays as I see opportunity. And I want to do just that with American Superconductor today. I think it’s a $35.00 stock. So let’s buy shares of (NASDAQ: AMSC) today below $28.00.

I’m also raising the buy under and target prices for XXX and XXX. You can see them in the portfolio.

I guess I probably should’ve said, "I know it’s a $35.00 stock," because last week it climbed to $36.24 on the heels of a stellar earnings report.

Had you taken my advice and invested. . . you would’ve been sitting on a 35% gain when it popped. And while that’s impressive, focusing solely on gains means missing the bigger point here.

In the company report that accompanied that recommendation I highlighted the following key points:

• Company revenue guidance is conservative

• Has already contracted 85% of expected revenue for fiscal 2009

• Wind division is growing quickly

• Can benefit from multiple markets: voltage, wind, transmission

Well, the second quarter numbers came out a few days ago. . . and you can probably guess what happened.

The company shattered revenue estimates — even mine — by about $12 million. And earnings per share of $0.04 blew away most analysts who were looking for flat earnings to a slight loss.

So the guidance was clearly conservative.

And my statement that American Superconductor’s "wind division is growing quickly" turned out to be one of the understatements of the year. Chinese stimulus funding for wind energy could spark 100% growth in two years or less, and that was evidenced on AMSC’s balance sheet in the form of increased orders from Chinese wind developers.

Beijing’s Sinovel increased orders by $20 million and accelerated the term by eight months — meaning they’ll be ready for next order sooner than expected.

I knew all of that in June. . . and so did my readers. But the rest of the investment world didn’t find out until last week, when the stock had already soared 30% in one day.

Only Going Higher

That winner is just one of 13 still sitting in The Speculator portfolio. . . just waiting to be cashed out.

And that’s on top of the 30 others we’ve closed for gains this year. As a Green Chip reader, you had to see this coming. We were predicting a renewable revolution two years before First Solar was even publicly traded.

That was half a decade ago!

Take a look around you today. Companies from Aflac to Yahoo! are touting their green credentials while we’ve been busy taking profits on the companies making it all happen — from American Superconductor to Zap.

All major cleantech segments have estimated growth rates that outpace the most beloved Wall Street sectors. . . I’m talking about a doubling of the solar and wind industries in the next three to five years.

No other industry is growing like that: not metals, not oil, not retail, not biotech.

We’re in Wall Street’s catbird seat — the position all other industries want to be in.

We’re getting Federal dollars, being looked to as a solution to the recession. We’re viewed favorably by the media and global governments. We’re providing clean energy and sustainable practices.

And above all, we’re making money.

If you haven’t yet, now is the time to let us help you do the same. And you can do it, risk-free.

Use this link to sign up for the Alternative Energy Speculator with a 30-day trial. You can check out the portfolio, past updates, and the in-depth reports featuring earnings estimates and company-specific information.

You’ll also begin receiving buy and sell recommendations. At our current success rate, it won’t be long until you receive your first one. . . we’ve closed a winning stock for every week so far in 2009!

And if you still don’t like the service after 30 days. . . you can get back every cent, no questions asked. 

But you can’t see how great it is — or how much money you’ll make — if you don’t try it.

Start closing cleantech winners today!

Call it like you see it,

Nick