Saturday, September 29, 2007

Green Investments Crashes Technorati Party!

Guys we're on technorati! This is a major advance not just for this blog, but humanity in general. It's time to start reaching out and building this thing. For the few people who are reading this blog now, I will make you ALL famous later when we become famous.

If you like this blog, Green Investments, start technorati-ing the hell out of it. I'm not even sure what that means, but please tell technorati how much you love this blog. Seriously, we need to get the word out on green investing before an entire new generation of investors buys the old line that you should invest in things you don't believe in because they make you more money!

Technorati Profile

You can go here to view my technorati profile. Which really is the same profile but I'm hoping you have nothing better to do.

Cheers mates,

James

Friday, September 28, 2007

Investing in Jatropha Stocks... Or Not

Well, my ongoing, pith-helmeted quest for the perfect stock investment in jatropha oil is really proving a fun challenge.

It seems the jatropha plant's potential to provide truly sustainable biofuel to the world is looking very, very real. However, the only companies that seem to be diving in head-first are tiny overseas outfits or national energy firms like PNOC (in the Phillipines).

Meanwhile, the sustainable investment world is facing the rather grim reality that, long term, corn might not be sustainable -- or realistic -- as the source of biofuel for an increasingly needy world.

The main drawbacks to corn are price (it's hitting new highs every day)... growing requirments (it takes fertilizer and lots of land and attention) and it has competition as a food crop (why grow corn for biofuel when the world needs to eat the stuff?).

Jatropha on the other hand is cheap... grows anywhere (including India's badlands and those of Africa)... produces golf-ball-sized fruit that tend to burst with easily convertible oil... and it doesn't compete with food crops because it grows where food crop cannot.


Right now, the governments and NGOs of India, Phillipines, South Africa, Great Britain and China are launching intensive campaigns to test the viability of jatropha as the true solution to our biofuel dilema (getting enough cheap oil from sensible sources to make a dent in our impact on crude oil).
The results so far are promising. Even the Wall Street Journal appears hot on jatropha: (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118788662080906716.html).

If anything, this terrific article makes a convincing argument for investing in jatropha... but... how?

So... How to Invest?

The big problem for us right now is that there are no reasonably safe ways to play jatropha at the moment.

Here's what we're looking at so far...

British Petroleum: BP just entered into an agreement to produce jatropha oil on African soil with another limey firm, D1 Oils Plc. This project is a test, not full-scale production. But it makes one think that BP could make a good play on jatropha.

And as a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which I mentioned in a recent post, BP is interesting. I'm shy on this stock right now for two reasons:

1. Crude oil's wildly cyclical, and so is this stock's performance... Oil's at $83 levels right now, and poised for a pullback soon, especially if we're looking at a slowdown in the global economy. This isn't the time to pile your money into an oil company like BP, whose share price would suffer if oil performs one of its famous swan dives.

2. It's a very indirect play on jatropha.

So we'll keep an eye on BP... monitor it's progress with the D1 Oils project... And if the stock price trades down to reasonable levels once oil cools off, we might pounce if BP's green investment creditials appear worthy.

Meanwhile, you could play D1 Oils directly, as it trades on the bulletin boards. The problem there is that the company hasn't turned in a profitable quarter since going public back in 2004. The fundamentals frankly suck.

I know we're wildcatting here on jatropha, but I'm not yet convinced that D1 will be the way to play it...

So... More to come on jatropha, and the potential here for stock investors to cash in. Meanwhile, good green unto you.

James

Wood Biomass: The Next Greentech Energy Play?

Not long ago on this blog we recommended a little $10 million company called Green Energy Resources. It was a case of holding my nose and making the recommendation, frankly, because micro-cap stocks are simply a crap shoot, to be honest.

Now we have seen that this company is churning a profit, and has an actual business. But more interestingly, it's found a biomass energy niche that could pay big dividends down the road... if you're bold (or insane) enough to invest now.

The company procures and processes wood chips. Their kiln-drying procedure does something interesting, though: it gives the wood almost the same measure of energy output on a kilo-per-kilo basis as coal.

It also burns much cleaner than coal, and provides the world with a way to recycle the megatons of wood we throw away every year...

Right now the company is trading in a narrow band between 17 and 20 cents a share. If it breaks above 20, it'll probably be worth looking at taking profits on this position quickly. This is a speculation, and you never want to get TOO greedy with a speculation.

Indeed, green investors are no less bloody-minded about making money than their last-generation counterparts. We're forward thinking, not naive, right?

For more on what GRGR is up to these days, check out this article:

http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070907/0299265.html

Good trading,

James

Digg!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

A Few Hundred More Green Investments

We're in the process of building what we hope will be the biggest list of green and sustainable investments on the web. Today we're adding several hundred new names to our list courtesy of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Global. So without furthur ado (for our complete catalog of green investments, see The Big List of Green Investments at the bottom of this blog), here's a small sampling of the new names being added to our master list of green stocks:

DJSI World 2006/2007
as of August 31, 2007

(Company Country Industry)
- 3i Group PLC, United Kingdom, Financials
- 3M Co., United States, Industrials
- ABB Ltd., Switzerland, Industrials
- Abbott Laboratories, United States, Health Care
- Abertis Infraestructuras S.A., Spain, Industrials
- ABN AMRO Holding N.V., Netherlands, Financials
- Accor S.A., France, Consumer Services
- Adidas AG, Germany, Consumer Goods
- Advanced Micro Devices Inc., United States, Technology
- Aegon N.V., Netherlands, Financials
- Aeon Co. Ltd., Japan, Consumer Services
- Aetna Inc., United States, Health Care
- African Bank Investments Ltd., South Africa, Financials
- Agilent Technologies Inc., United States, Industrials
- AGL Energy Ltd., Australia, Utilities
- Air France-KLM, France, Consumer Services
- Air Products & Chemicals Inc., United States, Basic Materials
- Akzo Nobel N.V., Netherlands, Basic Materials
- Alcan Inc., Canada, Basic Materials
- Alcatel-Lucent, France, Technology
- Alcoa Inc., United States, Basic Materials
- Allianz SE, Germany, Financials
- AMEC PLC, United Kingdom, Industrials
- Amgen Inc., United States, Health Care
- AMP Ltd., Australia, Financials
- Anglo American PLC, United Kingdom, Basic Materials
- Aracruz Celulose S/A Pref B, Brazil, Basic Materials
- Asahi Breweries Ltd., Japan, Consumer Goods
- Asahi Glass Co. Ltd., Japan, Industrials
- ASML Holding N.V., Netherlands, Technology
- Astrazeneca PLC, United Kingdom, Health Care
- Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., Australia, Financials
- Aviva PLC, United Kingdom, Financials
- BAE Systems PLC, United Kingdom, Industrials
- Balfour Beatty PLC, United Kingdom, Industrials
- Baloise-Holding AG, Switzerland, Financials
- Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A., Spain, Financials
- Banco Bradesco S/A Pref Brazil Financials
- Banco Itau Holding Financeira S.A. Pref Brazil Financials
- Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A. Spain Financials
- Barclays PLC United Kingdom Financials
- BASF AG Germany Basic Materials
- Baxter International Inc. United States Health Care
- Bayer AG Germany Basic Materials
- Becton Dickinson & Co. United States Health Care
- Benesse Corp. Japan Consumer Services
- BG Group PLC United Kingdom Oil & Gas
- BHP Billiton Ltd. Australia Basic Materials
- BHP Billiton PLC United Kingdom Basic Materials
- Bidvest Group Ltd. South Africa Industrials
- BMW AG Germany Consumer Goods
- BNP Paribas S.A. France Financials
- BP PLC United Kingdom Oil & Gas
- Brambles Ltd. Australia Industrials
- British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Bhd Malaysia Consumer Goods
- British American Tobacco PLC United Kingdom Consumer Goods
- British Land Co. PLC United Kingdom Financials
- British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC United Kingdom Consumer Services
- BT Group PLC United Kingdom Telecommunications
- CA Inc. United States Technology
- Cadbury Schweppes PLC United Kingdom Consumer Goods
- Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Canada Financials
- Canon Inc. Japan Technology
- Carrefour S.A. France Consumer Services
- Caterpillar Inc. United States Industrials
- Cattles PLC United Kingdom Financials
- Centrica PLC United Kingdom Utilities
- CFS Retail Property Trust Australia Financials
- Ciba Specialty Chemicals Holding Inc. Switzerland Basic Materials
- Cisco Systems Inc. United States Technology
- Citigroup Inc. United States Financials
- Cognos Inc. Canada Technology
- Coles Group Ltd. Australia Consumer Services
- Coloplast A/S Series B Denmark Health Care
- Commonwealth Property Office Fund Australia Financials
- Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Micheli France Consumer Goods
- Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais (CEMIG) Brazil Utilities
- Compass Group PLC United Kingdom Consumer Services
- Credit Suisse Group Switzerland Financials
- CRH PLC Ireland Industrials
- Cummins Inc. United States Industrials
Good green investing,

James

Green Investments and "Economic Salvation"

According to former President Bill Clinton, a new employment trend needs to emerge within the economy every 5-8 years in order to avoid economic stagnation.

And the only recent president to preside over a balanced budget now believes that green investments ARE the new mega employment opportunity.

"I think this will be an economic boom," he told attendees of the U.N. Climate Conference in New York this week (as reported in the International Herald Tribune).

"I hope I've persuaded you that it's good economics as well as good for the future of our children." Sustainability, Clinton said, could be "economic salvation."

Bill also said: "There has to be a good new source of jobs every five to eight years to avoid a stagnant economy, and climate change is it."

Read the complete article, go here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116476973580035391.html?mod=mostpop&apl=y&r=5913

Good investing,

James


Digg!

Why Starbucks Will Soar

Starbucks is down about 2.4% today on a downgrade by Bank of America, to "sell"! Analysts cite the fact that per-store growth is destined to slow which, of course, could be said of about any business from a cyclical perspective.

But here's the thing... Starbucks is aggressively adding stores around the world, and especially in China. Yum! Brands has made investors excellent returns the past three years, starting from a low platform, based largely on this exact same strategy... saturating the Chinese market.

A friend of mine, who's also a tremendous researcher and analyst, just returned from China to report on his recommendation of Yum! some time ago... The KFC restaurants are packed, he reports, with Chinese wearing suits and dresses to sample the Colonel's goods.

So I'm thinking... Odd as it may sound, American brand cache could have more weight in China than most people might have guessed. Starbucks is perhaps the strongest coffee brand in the world right now.

So far, our SBUX recommendation is about flat, even after today's drop.

And while Wall Street is fleeing this stock in droves, that's fine by me. They're doing it for no good reason, long-term. Consider:

SBUX's recent year-over-year earnings of 20.10% blow away specialty-foods competitor Tim Hortons (14.40%), and outpaces the industry as a whole (19.3%).

The company is adding dozens of stores in China, month after month and now has over 400 in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Take a look at this Wall Street Journal Chart:



It's important to realize that Starbucks is not only a truly green investment, but that its market niche is perfect for catering to the young and newly affluent Chinese who are riding double-digit GDP expansion like a rocket... and who will increasinly need a little pick-me-up to stay in the saddle.

Good investing,

James

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

LDK Solar Handing Us 201% Gains!

This is a milestone for our Green Investments blog. Our top solar energy play, LDK Solar, crossed the 201% return mark for us with the closing of today's session.

Let's take a quick look at how the stock has done versus the Oil and Gas Index since recommended in this space back in June:



What's the big idea here? Oil has been on a TEAR this year, crashing through the $80 level just days ago. Yet our solar play is destroying the oil and gas markets as a whole, and I daresay even the highest flying oil and gas stocks out there.

I know we're crowing a bit here, but this is reason to celebrate.

I admit, however, that a good deal of this is luck... That's the truth of the markets in the short term especially. But long term I think green energy plays like LDK Solar will continue, by and large, to outstrip their conventional rivals in the big profit game.

Good Green Investing,

James

A Great List of Green Investments

In my ongoing quest to begin cataloging the enormous ocean of green and sustainable investments out there, I've just discovered a really nice blog that features a new list of greentech and green energy plays for us to consider.

http://cleanenergynews.blogspot.com/2006/05/biogas-ethanol-stocks.html

Check it out, and I'll soon be adding these companies to our Big List of Green Investments toward the bottom of this blog.

Best,

James


Digg!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

LDK Jumps Another 7.7% for Us!

LDK Solar's run resumed today with a nice 7.7% surge. Again, I'm not sure why an analyst would actually fault the company for taking the initiative with its silicon production plant, even if competitors were likely to follow suit (personally I think the plant was priced into the stock long ago anyway). Sometimes, I just don't understand the Wall Street experts.

Ah well.

At this point we're still beating the S&P 500 by a very good margin. Our Green Investments portfolio is up 225.4%, including losers. That's more than 10 times the S&P 500 over the past year, meaning we're managing to beat our benchmark in serious fashion.

You CAN invest in sustainable companies AND beat Wall Street! The evidence becomes more clear by the day. But can we do it long-term? We shall see.

Our Next Pick: Jatropha?

Our next pick, again, will likely be a play on jatropha, if I can find a good one. There's a British company, DI Oils, that produces this bio-fuel commodity already and just formed a deal with British Petroleum to grow and refine jatropha oil from African fields. But it's listed on the London Exchange.

More to come.

James

Monday, September 24, 2007

Of Green Investing... And Wall Street Analysts Being Right but Early

Okay, so CIBC analyst Adam Hinckley says his firm is downgrading LDK to "sector perform" because its rapid deployment of a polysilicon plant next to its solar-water plant indicates that producing polysilicon is so easy, anyone can do it. Hmm. I guess they should have taken longer to get the plant up and running.

To be fair, we should pay attention to this analyst's take, because CIBC was in fact the first Wall Street firm to initiate coverage on LDK back in July. While we don't buy and sell based on analyst rankings, they're interesting fodder.

Meanwhile, Piper Jaffray, UBS and Needham have all initiated their own coverege this month, and all of them rate LDK as a "buy" and a "sector outperform." So this could be a case of Hinckley being right... but being WAY early, as in about six months to a year early.

LDK's doing a lot of business on the silicon front already, which can only be a bullish sign. The other thing is, putting up a silicon plant is no easier or harder to do today than it was six months ago, so the timing of CIBC's downgrade is interesting to say the least.

Only time will tell. Till then, mind your stops.

James

Move LDK TS to $52.78

LDK is up 186.5% since we recommended it here at Green Investments. Move the trailing stop up to $52.78 to lock in profits.

James

Friday, September 21, 2007

Sell NMR for 25.97% Loss

NMR closed today at $15.25, below our trailing stop. Sell at open on Monday. We will take a 25.97% loss on this position.

Unfortunately, this is something that needs to be done. We put a TS on this position because of the touch-and-go nature of Japan's recovery (still bullish long-term) and because the financial sector was due for some major volatility.

Part of being successful long term is knowing when to take a loss. The idea is to cut your losses and redeploy that capital in a more intelligent play with upward trending. The alternative is to wait and hope blindly that things will turn around. So we'll just stick to our guns, bite the bullet and say goodbye to Nomura.

James

Evergreen Portfolio: Up 202%

Here's a quick update of the Evergreen Portfolio's performance numbers... They're looking good and with the latest rally, 85% of our positions are profitable. We're even making money on Starbucks. And as many SBUX shareholders will attest, that hasn't been easy to do lately.

Our total net return is 202% for the year, beating the S&P 500 by a mile. Meanwhile, we've done it with green investments that are, we feel, doing more to better the world than to harm it... and that includes the people living on this planet.

Here's the breakdown of our current portfolio:

* * * * *

EVERGREEN PORTFOLIO
As of September 20, 2007

BG +41.01%
GRGR.PK +0.00
KB +6.03%
KEP +0.49%
LDK +176.59%
NMR (-24.37%)
SBUX +2.67%

Net Returns: +202.42%
Share-weighted Return: 30.15%
Average Return: 28.91%
Percentage Winners: 85%

* * * * *

NMR Stopping Out?

We're close to stopping out of NMR, which would be a shame. If it can weather the storm for another week, I believe this company could pull ahead steadily for the long term. The Japanese and Asian banks in general have been slammed by the subprime problems, and with the potential for lessening volatility over time on that front, NMR could surge.

Jatropha: Our Next Green Play?

One other note: We're looking for the perfect play on jatropha right now. This is a weed that could become an important commodity in the rush to biofuels we're seeing around the world. Almost nobody's talking about jatropha oil, but it could be used to create biodiesel... and currently China's planning on planting millions of acres of jatropha, along with interests in Europe, Africa and even the U.S.

A friend and tremendous analyst -- who is a bonafide skeptic and former Morgan Stanley ace analyst -- tells me that jatropha has real potential to help the world (poor Africans can grow it in the dust fields) and enrich green investors, too.

When we find the perfect play, we'll add it to the portfolio if the numbers make sense.

More to come.

James

Thursday, September 20, 2007

China Green Energy Play LDK up 164%

LDK Solar has resumed its surge and is now up 164% since we recommended it here at Green Investments. News that the Chinese solar-panel manufacturer has taken the bold step of deploying a silica-manufacturing plant nextdoor, and general strength in the sector, is helping the stock right now.

Also, European demand for solar is bounding forward, too. One other thing, this year alone the spot price of silica has risen some 30%. And this could represent the beginning of a very long boom in this material.

Since we've added the stock to our Evergreen Portfolio, it has smashed the performance of conventional energy plays such as Exxon, even through crude oil has soared to new historic highs recently, hitting $80 a barrel.

You might think that this must be because our "niche" green energy play is a small-cap, and therefore has more room to run? You might think we've latched into a tiny little company that's soaring on market-manipulations or insider buying? Nope. This is a $6.8 billion dollar going concern. A large cap by any standards, and perhaps one day an index company.

So to answer the question of whether green investing really can make you more money than conventional investing, let's go to the evidence... the chart of LDK since we've owned it, compared to the performance of Exxon during this historic runup in oil prices:



Green day to you,

James

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

NMR... Bouncing Off Support?

Our Japanese green investment, bank Nomura, almost stopped out on us yesterday but rebounded before the close and is surging today, too, like much of the markets in the wake of BB's surprisingly aggressive rate cute.

Looking back, it becomes apparent that the stock may have found some technical support around $15.60. Just take a look at the chart and you'll see a big selloff down to about $16 back in November of last year, and a subsequent spike in demand for the shares shortly thereafter.

The recent dip has come on heavy volume, as volatility -- and questions over the credit cycle -- have rocked the markets and left the financials in bad shape all around.

Could we be looking at the beginning of a nice run-up for NMR? We can only hope. Take a look and see how the recent low (and our Trailing Stop) coincide almost perfectly with the stock's long-term support levels:



Good investing,

James

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Firing My Clairvoyant

Unfortunately, my clairvoyant called it wrong, predicting a .25% rate decrease from the Fed today. Of course the Fed lowered rates by .50%. And now Madame Schlotzky is back at her old job, at the Iron Horse Saloon where her missing front tooth has fascinated many a sailor for generations.

Adieu!

James

NMR Near TS

If NMR closes at $15.45 or below today, we'll sell it from the portfolio upon the open. The Fed news wasn't enough to lift this stock from a 3% drop... although we have nearly 2 hours left in the trading day, so let's see what happens and let our system do its job.

James

Monday, September 17, 2007

Green Investments Exclusive!!! BB to Reduce Rates by 0.25%

I just received word from my Fed source, Madame Schlotzky the clairvoyant, that Ben Bernanke will lower interest rates tomorrow by 0.25%. This is absolutely confirmed. Madame said her pet iguana, Raul, vomited up a fruit fly last night at precisely midnight, and that this usually means a quarter-point lowering is afoot... or that he requires a small thimbleful of Mylanta in order to resume his nightly slumber.

Anyhoo...

While the rest of Wall Street wonders how the Fed will move, if at all, we can already take solace in the fact that the S&P 500 is in for a very nice three-month rally in the wake of tomorrow's Fed announcement...

Further mindless predicitions...

We'll see continued volatility for another week and a half as the markets adjust to the new rate... Then a small dip... then a long, steady, two month rally starting in early October and lasting perhaps through the rest of the year.

Best,

James

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

One More Case for SRI

So far this year, the Vice Fund ETF (VICEX), made up of companies trafficking in booze, guns and other bad stuff, is up 6.68%. That's handily beating the S&P 500, up just under 3% for the year.

However, our Evergreen Portfolio is up more than 140% overall, and more than 24% on a share-weighted basis... including the losers.

My point is not to prove that sin stocks are bad. They can obviously be good investments.

My point is, you can beat them handily with well-chosen SRI and green investments every time.

If you have the choice, and you do, which would you rather be doing?

James

An Anti-Emotional Case for Green Investing

The primary mistake made by "sin stock" advocates -- those who emotionally push alcohol, tobacco, defense and gambling stocks as if they have an ideological axe to grind -- is that you must choose between great returns... OR keeping your soul intact.

Bullshit.

You don't have to buy Budweiser or Diageo or Lockheed Martin to make money.

You don't have to knowingly invest in companies that profit from things you don't agree with in order to beat the markets.

Personally, I don't give a fig if someone drinks or not... or if you smoke. That's a personal choice, and bravo for you if you drink three pints of scotch a night and smoke yourself to sleep.

But NOT investing in sin companies doesn't make you some kind of naive financial sissy either. That's simply nonesense -- and worse, it's an emotional argument about something where emotions are downright dangerous.

You see, I think SRI makes sense logically. The companies we focus on are at the cutting edge of energy technology, carbon neutrality, efficient use of resources and the zeitgeist itself... These companies are often, in my opinion, driven by people who possess more natural awareness of their environment and better business vision in general.

Why else would Goldman Sachs have gone green? Why is Starbucks working toward carbon neutrality within the next year?

Simply... They see the future better than "money first" businessmen do.

Chances are, if you're more aware of changes in society... more aware of your business's overall impact on its environment... more aware of emerging technologies for improving your energy efficiency... you might just be better equiped to improve your efficiency in general, or to adopt emerging technologies that give you an edge in the markets.

And of course there is the larger human point behind SRI: If the human race is to survive and thrive, we need clean water and air and food.

It also helps if we lower the incidence of diseases like liver cancer, cirrhosis, lung cancer, emphysema and, while we're at it, reduce the occurance of gun-related deaths and wars. This is a baseline survival/quality-of-life question, not an emotional hippy rant from the 1960s.

The SRI perspective is not emotional - it's almost the opposite of emotional. Granted, I feel better about my choices when I'm making them with my kid's future in mind... and especially when they soar 140% in a matter of weeks.

But from my perspective, the real "emotions" come in when you get stirred up and ideological about it, such as you so often see with "sin" advocates who can hardly contain their Limbaugh-like screaming. Human beings are basically weak and vice-oriented, they argue.

That's reality, they say. And when times get tough, buy sin stocks, because a lot of miserable people out there will be turning to cigarettes, booze... and even firearms (some turned on themselves, unfortunately) to escape the nightmare of their lives.

But hey, you'll squeeze an extra 5% from your portfolio, so it's worth it, no?

NO.

While the extreme free-market guys see SRI as some left-wing conspiracy to rob investors of their due returns, they're wrong. While they myopically see it as a perversion of "pure free market capitalism" they're wrong.

Again, it's emotion-based, ideological bullshit.

Here's a perfect example from a Minyanville writer who invokes the dusty, heady name of Adam Smith himself to argue against SRI... as if putting the frosting on his cake of an anti-SRI argument:

"Adam Smith’s invisible hand did not wear a social glove and for a good reason: social criterions only add inefficiency to the system of capitalism."

He's arguing that SRI is somehow outside the "system of capitalism." But of course it's just another force operating within the system of capitalism.

Think about it... If every American made the free choice to stop buying booze, cigs and guns... and every company producing these things in America goes belly up in 10 years... and the stocks disappear... is that not part of the efficiency of capitalism at work? SRI is really just the free market at work.

Free choice is part of capitalism. And that includes the choice to NOT invest in stuff that's harming people or the planet in an overt way. Like it or not, most SRI people aren't doing it because someone is forcing their hand.

Again, the anti-SRI guys are offering a false choice: You DON'T have to choose to be part of the capitalist system OR choose to invest responsibly.

You don't have to choose to make money... OR choose to invest responsibly.

Our evergreen portfolio is destroying the S&P 500 exponentially so far this year, returning more than 140% (including losers) versus about 4% for the broad stock market. Even on a share-weighted basis, we're more than quadrupling the S&P right now.

Perhaps that won't go on forever, but at the moment it looks like the real money is in well-chosen, and fortunate, socially responsible investments.

Best,

James

LDK up 144%... GRGR Jumps 11.1%

Stocks are off to a fast start today, and LDK Solar has climbed its traditional 3% so far this session. Since we recommended this Chinese solar play some weeks ago, it has skyrocketed off its post-IPO low and gained 144%.

Now...

Even if the stock sells off a bit in the coming weeks, this is still a good long-term play I believe. The company just broke ground on a silica-producing plant adjacent to its wafer manufacturing plant on the mainland. And that should keep raw-materials prices low going forward, while competitors scramble to find cheap silica - which is growing increasingly difficult to do.

Let's keep our trailing stop on this position right where it is... Doing so will give us a little more wiggle room should profit-taking knock the stock down before the next leg of a long runup.

* * * *

Also today, our GRGR play has rebounded back to our entry price, rising 11.1% in this morning's trading. I really like this company and believe it has long-term potential. But wouldn't put more than 1% of my portfolio into this decidedly micro-cap, and highly speculative, resources play.

Good day,

James

Thursday, September 6, 2007

GRGR's Joe Murray: A CEO with Soul?

It was just reported that GRGR will issue a 10% dividend to shareholders of record as of September 30, 2007. That's great news and represents a doubling of last year's 5% dividend paid.

Perhaps even more interesting, and heartening to shareholders looking to stay in GRGR for a long-term ride: CEO Joseph Murray has vowed to put his entire dividend back into the company treasury, just like he did last year.

Like, who does this kind of thing? Are we being hypnotized by some kind of chimeric "perfect green stock" and the perfect socially responsible CEO, if there is such a thing? Is Murray going to peel away his rubber human skin to reveal a horrible, lecherous, scaly yet slimy alien KILLER underneath?

Who knows...

But it was nice that the stock rallied back up to our entry point today after being 15% in the hole at lunchtime.

* * * *

One final thing we can be sure of is that Ben Bernanke's beard is looking tremendous these days... and he won't touch interest rates.

Good day to you,

James

Move LDK Trailing Stop UP to $49.36

Well, this is an exhilerating day. Not because the markets are doing anything special, but because we have the opportunity of locking in our first triple-digit stock winner in our Evergreen Portfolio.

Of course I'm talking about LDK Solar.

Right now the stock is trading down about 3% on the day at $53. In order to ensure that we walk away from this position with at least a 101% gain, we're going to move our trailing stop on LDK Solar up to $49.36. That means we'll sell the position automatically if it closes below $49.36 at any time going forward.

Meanwhile, our newest position -- the microcap GRGR -- is down 15%. But guess what. That's nothing for a microcap to move over the course of a few trading sessions. This is a rare beast: a microcap I consider more of a long-term investment than a trade.

At any rate, congratulations to us! We've locked in our first triple-digit winner in LDK, no matter what the market brings us from here.

But to be honest, I think this Chinese solar company -- armed with a bevy of recent high-dollar contracts and plenty of momentum -- has a ways to go yet.

Good day,

James

Monday, September 3, 2007

Adding Green Energy Resources to the Portfolio

I've long been searching for the perfect green commodity play, because I think commodities still have years of boom time ahead of them (the current 16-20 year bull cycle started in 1999) and because China's still growing... and will continue growing for some time to come.

What I wasn't looking for was a micro-cap stock. But unfortunately, that's what I've found.

Luckily, this micro-cap has solid fundamentals, a solid business that just issued a 10% dividend in the first quarter of 2007... and ridiculous upside. But before I tell you all about it, let me first make this confession...

Please Allow Me to... Contradict Myself

Last year I vowed never to add another penny stock to this portfolio. The company that had me so riled up was CECO, which shot up 150% in a single trading session last week, coincidentally.

Anyway, we're dipping into the micro-cap well once again. But this time we've got better fundamentals and a solid track record behind us...

This time it's a company called Green Energy Resources, based in New York. GRGR is a complete buyer, processor and shipper/seller of what could be the next big commodity: biomass woodchips, or Ecogreen Coal.

These are byproduct woodchips, basically, that burn well for fuel purposes, and come entirely from second-hand trees: trees that were being cut down anyway for road building, construction and development, etc.

The company, unlike CECO, actually has an income, which is a bonus. I'll get into the fundamentals in a later article, but a really good sign is that the company just paid a 10% dividend for the first quarter.

Besides decent fundamentals, GRGR could soon find itself at the nexus of a very big problem, and a very profitable solution...

The Emperor Has No Trees

After decades of deforestation, development, pollution and naturally arid lands, China finds itself in a strange position: it's a land that's relatively devoid of large trees, and therefore large amounts of wood for construction and fuel.

As WorldWatch reported August 21, 2007:

"Today, large trees are rare in China. The country will need to take efforts to nurture them in the years ahead."

In its article "A Country with No Big Trees," WorldWatch reporter Yongfeng Feng describes a deforestation problem going back centuries.

"The exploitation of trees in China dates back thousands of years. Before the 20th century, the major destructive force was the elite ruling class of a highly centralized society, including emperors and their families, officials, and rich businesspeople.

"They constructed luxurious palaces and houses, and extravagant tombs. Those structures required huge quantities of timber. Places that served as political and economic centers were the first to be denuded."

Emperors building palaces, tombs and estates have historically sucked up every bit of lumber-quality forest in areas around Beijing, for example. For more on China's wood shortage, click here: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5313

Using Wood to Offset Coal Pollution

The sad thing is, China's 85%-plus reliance on coal-fired powerplants could be causing much less pollution were it able to blend that coal with fuel-grade wood chips... Blending wood chips with coal creates much less CO2 emissions... and can lower fuel costs.

GRGR: Already Negotiating with China and India

And right now, Green Energy Resources is negotiating with both China and India to import their wood fiber fuels into both countries -- the two most dynamic major economies in the world. In fact, GRGR has gone so far as to negotiate a number of ships being built to move its supplies to China from the U.S.

"It's a growing market," says GER CEO Joseph Murray, who has led negotiations with the Chinese government that could lead to 10 wood-transporting ships being build in China to transport GER's goods there.

"They want to expand their co-production. We have a product that is environmentally certified that we could export to China."

Some are referring to this product as Ecogreen Coal, and it could soon become a tradeable commodity on a major exchange in Chicago or New York according to one article (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2005_May_9/ai_n13677642) wlthough this article is from two years ago!

The point is, the company's performance has been solid of late, and since it's trading well off its historic high -- and since China stocks have continued to surge this year, and this could soon be a direct China green energy play, similar to LDK Solar -- let's move now.

Action: Buy Green Energy Resources at GRGR.PK at $0.20... We won't use a TS on this position.