Market adoption for the company’s photovoltaic thin film technology is growing. The light-weight, flexible laminates are “ideal for commercial and residential rooftop and building integrated PV installations, both of which offer significant growth opportunities,” according to Raymond James (NYSE: RJF) analyst Pavel Molchanov, who has a $37 price target for ENER and projected an EPS growth rate of 25 percent over the next three-years.
ENER could also be one of the big winners from the Obama administration’s stimulus plan. New federal incentives will allow many Americans to immediately lower the price of electricity by installing solar panels on their rooftops, and recoup 30 percent of the installation costs through U.S. treasury grants.
Market sentiment for the Energy Conversion Devices’ prospects is positive, as well. According to the Motley Fool, roughly 93 percent of CAPS members were bullish on ENER, despite the fact that the company cut its June fiscal year revenue guidance from the $455 million to $485 range to a range in the low $400’s.
Shares of ENER are actually up on a trailing-12-month basis, and have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last . The Company has a 67.6 percent gross profit margin, a 7.3 percent return on equity (yoy) and is sitting on about $433 million in cash.
A “high-class [company] in the pipeline arena,” according to Keating, Kinder Morgan has a dividend yield of 8.4% and a 19.1% return on equity over the last three years.
We love this stock because it has a pretty well-shielded dividend, and performance doesn’t hinge on commodity prices. Regardless of what oil costs, it still has to be moved. That’s where KMP comes in. If you’re looking to add an energy component to your portfolio, Kinder Morgan is definitely an option worth considering.
ETFs are a great way to go for anyone looking to plug holes in their portfolio. If you’re looking for more exposure to foreign markets or can’t decide which biotech stock to invest in, maybe an ETF is the way to go. A lot of experts are pointing to ETFs as a good way for investors to get back some of their lost gains.
Here are a few differences between an ETF and an index fund.
Taxes: The big buzz about ETFs is their tax efficiency. The big “tax event” for ETF shareholders happens when you sell your shares, hopefully at a profit, after which you’ll pay capital gains taxes.
Expense ratios: By construction, ETF investors have less exposure to capital gains taxes than mutual fund shareholders. That’s because fund managers frequently buy and sell the fund’s holdings — and ask investors to pick up the tab. ETFs occasionally shift shares, too, although much less than most mutual funds. Annual expenses for ETFs range between 0.1% and 0.65% and are deducted from dividends. Index mutual funds charge anywhere from 0.1% to more than 3%.
Minimum investment requirement: For investors with limited funds (say, less than $1,000) who want to get started in the stock market, ETFs offer a cheap entrée. Through your discount brokerage account, you can buy one single measly share if you choose. In comparison, many index mutual funds have high initial balance requirements. (Those with lower requirements often charge higher fees.)
Ease of use: Here’s the double-edged sword of ETF investing. They are easy to buy — you simply need a discount brokerage account (and that’s easy to get — and cheap). Consequently, they’re easy to trade. And trade and trade and trade.
Here are a few ETFs we think are worth keeping an eye on:
2. SPDR S&P Dividend (SDY): Dividend ETFs seem to be gaining a lot of interest lately. This investment seeks to replicate, before expenses, correspond generally to the price and yield of the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats index. The fund uses a passive management strategy designed to track the price and yield performance of the Dividend index. It is nondiversified.SDY has been down almost 23% over the last 12 months. However, its holdings, which include Con Edison (NYSE: ED), FirstMerit Corp. (Nasdaq: FMER) and Vectren Corp. (NYSE: VVC), all of which we think are in sweet spots of the market.
3. WisdomTree LargeCap Dividend (DLN): Another dividend ETF. DLN’s holdings include Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE: PFE), and Wal Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT). he fund employs a passive management (or indexing) investment approach designed to track the performance of the WisdomTree LargeCap Dividend index. It attempts to invest all, or substantially all, of assets in the stocks that make up the Index. DLN generally uses a replication strategy to achieve its investment objective and generally will hold each stock in approximately the same proportion as its weighting in the index. It is nondiversified.
4. Market Vectors Intermediate Municipal (ITM): The fund invests at least 80% of total assets in fixed-income securities that comprise the index. It has adopted a fundamental investment policy to invest at least 80% of assets in investments suggested by its name.
1. Coal makes a comeback: Formed from the compressed plant matter trapped under rocks and dirt for millions of years, coal accounted for about 27 percent of the world’s energy consumption, and is expected to increase by 2.6 percent every year until 2015. It’s cheap, and a lot more available in countries with voracious appetites for energylike the U.S., India, and China. Kiplinger recently published an article hailing coal as the “new black gold,” that will be touted as a “homegrown solution to ease U.S. reliance on oil imports, which now account for nearly two-thirds of daily usage.” Coal-to-fuel technologies are all but here, and it’s only a matter of time before the treehuggers get on the coal bandwagon, as well.
2. Russia gets the cold shoulder from the EU: About 39 percent of the European Union’s natural gas imports come from Russia. The demand for natural gas is expected to increase about 1 percent per-year for OECD countries, and 2.3% for non-OECD countries. Russia knows that it can call the shots when it comes to price from western and central European countries, once business from China picks up. Expect the EU to continue to launch new initiatives aimed at reducing its dependent on Russia including pipelines, and LNG re-gasification terminals to serve as a more reliable substitute for future natural gas supplies.
3. Oil prices stabilize within a narrow band by the end of the year: High oil prices that were buoyed for so long by bottlenecks, a bigger appetite, and speculation, has resulted in lower demand in OECD countries, especially the United States. Market researcher, Global Information, Inc., recently issued a statement predicting lower prices in the short-term, and further efforts by OPEC, which accounts for roughly 40% of the total oil production, to further try and control supply and reduce production.
Here are a few Energy Buzz Stocks we’re keeping an eye on:
Johnson Controls (JCI): This clean energy company just signed a joint venture with Saft to produce batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. Known for its energy saving technology, which has applications in everything from the automotive to the industrial sector, JCI could be a big winner in the coming year.
Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) – The stock has been crushed lately, and trades near its 52-week low. The company’s Q3 profit tripled over last year, and management was bullish on the long-term fundamental strength of the coal market. Recently trading for about $16.50 a share, ACI seems like a great opportunity at this price.
Covanta Holdings (NYSE: CVA)– Do you remember how the Flux Capacitor worked after Doc Brown flew back to 1985 from the future? Well, the future is here. This company can burn garbage instead of fossil fuels to produce electricity–clean electricity. Their waste-to-energy technology reduces greenhouse gases, lowers the risk of groundwater contamination, and reduces dependence on fossil fuels. Every year, Covanta converts 16 million tons of waste into 8 million megawatt hours of clean, renewable electricity. The company has had quarterly earnings growth of about 29 percent, and has more than $169 million of cash on hand.
The majority of analysts that cover Energy Conversion Devices (Nasdaq: ENER) rate the stock a “hold,” and for good reason.