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Thursday, June 18, 2009 7:07 PM

Bright lights among renewable energy stocks

Shirley Won

What are we looking for?

More clean energy plays.

Given that U.S. President Barack Obama has made renewable energy and climate change a key part of his mandate, we will look today at more stocks in this niche.

The sector also has potential even though the price of oil, trading in the range of $70 (U.S.) per barrel, is still well below the $147 reached last summer. Some pundits still see the commodity price heading higher as supply shrinks with the slowdown in exploration because of plunging crude oil prices.

Yesterday, we dealt with companies in the PowerShares WilderHill Progressive Energy Portfolio exchange-traded fund (ETF). That fund focuses on transitional energy technologies, such as ones that improve the use of fossil fuels by progressively reducing carbon and other pollution.

Today's screen

We look at PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio ETF. This fund, which is based on the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, holds mostly small- to mid-sized firms focused on renewable energy sources and clean technologies.

The fund, which trades under the symbol PBW, rose 7 cents (U.S.) yesterday to close at $10.21 on the New York Stock Exchange. That’s up from a 52-week low of $5.78 in March.

What did we find?

Half of the stocks don’t have earnings growth estimates for next year, but most of the ones that do are expected to post double- or triple-digit earnings growth. Most of the price-earnings ratios for the growth stocks based on next year’s earnings are in the double digits. Investors might want to wait for a bit of pullback to find an entry point. All currencies are in U.S. dollars.

Earnings estimates for members of the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio ETF
Company Ticker Price
US$
June 17 		1-mo %
price chg 		This
fiscal yr
EPS est. $ 		This
fiscal yr
EPS gwth % 		This
year
P/E 		Next
fiscal yr
EPS est. $
Amer Supercond. AMSC-Q 24.80 8.5 0.03 NA 871.4 0.46
Gushan Environ. GU-N 2.19 -2.7 0.11 -75.9 19.3 0.47
MEMC Elec Mater. WFR-N 19.10 20.6 0.33 -89.9 58.0 1.20
Yingli Green YGE-N 12.75 50.0 0.38 -50.3 33.3 0.94
OM Group OMG-N 27.54 8.9 0.77 -79.1 35.8 1.82
Suntech Power STP-N 17.50 22.0 0.33 -49.6 52.6 0.72
SunPower Corp SPWRA-Q 28.01 11.8 1.07 -53.1 26.2 1.90
Ultralife Corp ULBI-Q 6.70 -8.8 0.47 -40.3 14.4 0.82
Trina Solar TSL-N 22.58 33.2 1.29 -43.7 17.5 2.24
Advanced Battery ABAT-Q 3.78 8.9 0.39 24.7 9.8 0.60
Quanta Services PWR-N 22.72 3.9 0.81 -8.4 28.2 1.17
Itron Inc ITRI-Q 57.35 17.8 2.45 -27.1 23.4 3.48
Calpine Corp CPN-N 10.39 1.0 0.26 NA 39.7 0.37
Zoltek Cos Inc ZOLT-Q 10.70 44.6 0.30 -49.2 35.7 0.42
Fuel Systems FSYS-Q 20.68 11.4 1.39 -30.1 14.9 1.74
GT Solar Intl SOLR-Q 5.75 7.1 0.51 -16.6 11.3 0.63
Ormat Tech ORA-N 39.00 5.0 1.34 19.8 29.1 1.65
First Solar FSLR-Q 168.31 -5.1 7.19 69.6 23.4 8.73
Cree Inc CREE-Q 28.60 8.5 0.64 74.1 44.4 0.76
Note: All figures in US$; Source: Thomson
View Full Table

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Number Cruncher Contributors

Scott Adams

Scott Adams is the investment editor for Report On Business and Globe Investor. He has been a business journalist for more than 10 years, worked as an associate analyst on Bay Street and has been The Globe and Mail Investment Editor since spring 2007.

 

Rob Carrick

Rob Carrick has been writing about personal finance, business and economics for close to 20 years. He joined The Globe and Mail in late 1996 as an investment reporter and has been personal finance columnist since November 1998.

 

John Heinzl

John Heinzl has been covering business and financial markets for the Globe and Mail since 1990.

 

Steve Ladurantaye

Steve Ladurantaye wrote about technology companies in Ottawa before reporting for the Peterborough Examiner and Kingston Whig-Standard, where he won a National Newspaper Award for explanatory journalism. After joining the Globe and Mail in 2007, his work has regularly appeared in Report On Business and Globe Investor Magazine.

 

David Parkinson

David Parkinson has been covering business and financial markets since 1990, and has been with The Globe and Mail since 2000. A Calgary native, he received a Southam Fellowship from the University of Toronto in 1999-2000, studying international political economics.

 

Shirley Won

Shirley Won covers the fund industry and investments. She joined the Globe and Mail in 1996, and has also worked at the Montreal Gazette and Canadian Press.

 

Gordon Edall

Gordon Edall is the deputy investment editor for Report On Business and Globe Investor. Prior to joining The Globe and Mail in fall 2006, he worked for BNN producing TV shows including Squeezeplay and Market Call.