President-elect Barack Obama said Saturday that an analysis of his stimulus proposal found that the capital infusion could save or create as many as 4 million U.S. jobs by 2010, nearly 90% of them in the private sector.
On September 5th we reported that Silicon Valley, the major green booster, had retrenched by pulling out of long-term investments in alternative energy. Today, the other shoe dropped. The Cleantech Group in San Francisco reported that venture-capital investment in clean technology fell 35% in Q4 from the prior quarter, the steepest quarterly drop in two years.
As President-elect Obama toots his green-energy horn, the smart money in Silicon Valley is reversing its position on the moneymaking potential of wind, solar and geothermal power sources.
Alternative-energy investors have pointed to China as the fastest way on the planet to make money in the green revolution. I guess they never went beyond the executive summary of a recent report titled “The Green Evolution – Environmental Policies and Practice in China’s Banking Sector.”
Investors in alternative energy should hang up their hats for a while, says Irwin Greenstein. That’s because the prime business case for investing in alternative energy – sky-high oil prices – has evaporated. And these doesn’t look set to return in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, alternative energy will remain the domain of melodramatic soccer moms, “green-niks,” marketers and hucksters.
Andrew Snyder says solar panel manufacturer XsunX (OTC:XSNX) could be a great speculative stock buy. The company has just announced a major new two-year contract that could rejuvenate its business. But with a history of false dawns, Andrew says investors must tread very carefully.
The hype around the ethanol industry may have subsided, but its future as an alternative energy source is not dead. That’s why Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE:ADM) is using this bust to strengthen its position as industry leader. Andrew Snyder says this long-term strategy puts ADM in a great position for a future, greener America.
Energy investors may find themselves at odds in weighing whether to put their money into fossil fuels or green alternatives. Two separate articles in today’s Wall Street Journal provide a good backdrop for the current dilemma. Ultimately, we’re of the opinion that it’s still too early for alternative energy to make a convincing business case.
Martin Hutchinson analyses what a Democrat landslide means for investors. He says nuclear and clean energy stocks, auto manufacturers, generic drug producers and muni bonds are a “buy”. But fossil fuel companies and financial institutions should be avoided.
The election last night of Barack Obama to the White House has many green investors cheering, but their elation may be short-lived. For one, the ROI of alternative energy is still pegged to the price of fossil fuels. Second, environmentalists may find themselves at cross-purposes with one faction leading the charge for a greener grid while the other seeks to protect endangered species and offshore territory from solar arrays and wind farms.