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

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

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

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

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