Thursday, October 23, 2014

Hot Solar Companies To Invest In 2014

The solar industry is doing fairly well around the world this year. Recent data shows that U.S. installations were up 33% in the first quarter, Japan is growing rapidly, and China is investing billions to grow domestic demand.�

But all of these positives couldn't help LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK  ) post decent numbers, and the company continues to slip closer and closer to bankruptcy. First-quarter sales were just $104.3 million, which isn't even double the quarterly interest expense of $58 million, and net loss was $187.1 million.�

Management also announced that it is in talks with lenders to refinance $2.9 billion worth of debt after partially defaulting on a $24 million bond earlier this year. If this were the U.S., debtors would have pushed the company into bankruptcy by now, but Chinese state-run banks hold most of the debt, so a solution is very difficult for investors to predict.�

What is known is that LDK Solar is nowhere near profitability and won't be for a long time. Debt has a stranglehold on the company, and without a bailout from China, there's no way the company survives. That means this stock is hands off to investors.�

Top Managed Healthcare Stocks To Own Right Now: Peabody Energy Corporation(BTU)

Peabody Energy Corporation engages in the mining of coal. It mines, prepares, and sells thermal coal to electric utilities and metallurgical coal to industrial customers. The company owns interests in 30 coal mining operations located in the United States and Australia, as well as owns joint venture interest in a Venezuela mine. It is also involved in marketing, brokering, and trading coal. In addition, the company develops a mine-mouth coal-fueled generating plant; and Btu Conversion projects that are designed to convert coal to natural gas or transportation fuels; and clean coal technologies. As of December 31, 2011, it had 9 billion tons of proven and probable coal reserves. The company was founded in 1883 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Matt DiLallo]

    Norfolk
    The Norfolk area is home to coal-terminal operator Dominion Terminal Associates, among others. The facility is jointly owned by Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU  ) , Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI  ) , and Alpha Natural Resources (NYSE: ANR  ) , which use it to ship coal around the world. It's a state-of-the-art facility that features many environmental safeguards to keep the 1.7 million net tons of coal storage capacity from causing any environmental damage. Overall, coal exports provide significant economic benefits to Norfolk as well as the state of Virginia as a whole. It's estimated that coal exports contributed to more than 19,000 jobs to the state and added $2.5 billion in related economic value.�

Hot Solar Companies To Invest In 2014: Ascent Solar Technologies Inc.(ASTI)

Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc., a development stage company, focuses on commercializing flexible photovoltaic (PV) modules using its proprietary technology. The company intends to manufacture roll-format PV modules that use copper-indium-gallium-diselenide (CIGS) on a plastic substrate. Its proprietary manufacturing process deposits multiple layers of materials, including a thin-film of CIGS semiconductor material on a plastic substrate and laser patterns the layers to create interconnected PV cells or PV modules through monolithic integration process. The company would serve the building applied photovoltaic (BAPV) and building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) market, as well as specialty markets, such as defense, portable power, transportation, electronic integrated photovoltaic, and space and near-space. It has a strategic relationship with Norsk Hydro Produksjon AS to access customers in the BIPV/BAPV markets worldwide. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc. was founded in 200 5 and is based in Thornton, Colorado.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By John Udovich]

    Solar stocks have not exactly given buy and hold investors a smooth ride, but small cap�GT Advanced Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: GTAT) could be an interesting materials play on the solar sector���meaning its worth taking a closer look at the stock along with potential peers like Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc (NASDAQ: ASTI) and STR Holdings, Inc (NYSE: STRI) plus solar ETF Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSEARCA: TAN). I should mention that just last week, we added GT Advanced Technologies to our�SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio for both�fundamentals and technical reasons and we are already up almost 9%.

Hot Solar Companies To Invest In 2014: EMCORE Corporation(EMKR)

EMCORE Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides compound semiconductor-based products for the broadband, fiber optics, satellite, and solar power markets. The company operates in two segments, Fiber Optics and Photovoltaics. The Fiber Optics segment offers broadband products, including cable television, fiber-to-the-premises, satellite communication, video transport, and defense and homeland security products; and digital products comprising telecom optical, enterprise, laser/photodetector component, parallel optical transceiver and cable, and fiber channel transceiver products. This segment?s products enable information that is encoded on light signals to be transmitted, routed, and received in communication systems and networks. The Photovoltaics segment provides gallium arsenide (GaAs) multi-junction solar cells, covered interconnected cells, and solar panels for satellite applications; and concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) power systems for commercial and utility scale solar applications, as well as GaAs solar cells and integrated CPV components for use in other solar power concentrator systems. The company markets its products through its direct sales force, external sales representatives and distributors, and application engineers worldwide. EMCORE Corporation was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By CRWE]

    EMCORE Corporation (Nasdaq:EMKR), a leading provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the fiber optic and solar power markets, reported that it is ramping production and shipping the Opticomm-EMCORE NEXTGEN OTP-1DVI2A1SU insert cards for the Optiva platform.

  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    EMCORE (EMKR), together with its subsidiaries, provides compound semiconductor-based products for the broadband, fiber optics, satellite, and solar power markets. This stock closed up 1% to $4.09 in Tuesday's trading session.

    Tuesday's Range: $4.00-$4.14
    52-Week Range: $3.50-$5.62
    Tuesday's Volume: 187,000
    Three-Month Average Volume: 103,744

    From a technical perspective, EMKR trended modestly higher here back above its 50-day moving average of $4.03 with above-average volume. This stock has been making higher lows over the last three months each time it has pulled back, which is a bullish technical sign. This spike to the upside on Tuesday is starting to push shares of EMKR within range of triggering a big breakout trade. That trade will hit if EMRK manages to take out some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $4.16 to $4.20 and then above $4.22 with high volume.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in EMKR as long as it's trending above some key near-term support levels at $3.90 to $3.86 or above more support at $3.78 and then once it sustains a move or close above those breakout levels with volume that hits near or above 103,744 shares. If that breakout gets underway soon, then EMKR will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $4.53 to its 200-day moving average of $4.65, or even $5 to $5.30.

Hot Solar Companies To Invest In 2014: Canadian Solar Inc.(CSIQ)

Canadian Solar Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of solar power products in Canada and internationally. The company offers solar cell and solar module products that convert sunlight into electricity for various uses. Its products include a range of standard solar modules for use in a range of residential, commercial, and industrial solar power generation systems. The company also designs and produces specialty solar modules and products consisting of customized modules that its customers incorporate into their products, such as solar-powered bus stop lighting; and specialty products, such as portable solar home systems and solar-powered car battery chargers. In addition, it sells solar system kits, a package consisting of solar modules produced by it and third party supplied components, such as inverters, racking system, and other accessories, as well as implements solar power development projects. The company sells its products under the Canad ian Solar brand name. Canadian Solar Inc. offers its standard solar modules through a direct sales force and sales agents primarily to distributors, system integrators, and original equipment manufacturer customers, as well as to solar projects; and specialty solar modules and products to the automotive, telecommunications, and light-emitting diode lighting sectors. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Kitchener, Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Peter Graham]

    The Q1 2014 earnings report for Canadian Solar Inc (NASDAQ: CSIQ), sort of a peer of other North America based solar stocks like SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ: SCTY), First Solar, Inc (NASDAQ: FSLR) and SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWR), is scheduled for before the market opens on Friday. Aside from the Canadian Solar's earnings report, it should be said that SunPower Corporation reported Q1 2014 earnings on April 24 (reporting a quarterly profit verses a year ago loss plus they noted ��trong demand��for rooftop solar business); First Solar, Inc reported Q1 2014 earnings on May 6 (they beat expectations and gave a higher guidance); and SolarCity Corp reported Q1 2014 earnings on May 7 (included deeper-than-expected losses with even deeper losses to come but they also gave a higher rooftop installation forecast that sent shares upward).

  • [By Travis Hoium]

    Shipment and margin trends aren't usually isolated to one Chinese solar manufacturer so it's easy to assume that other companies will see disappointing numbers in the first quarter. The first two to watch are Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE  ) and Canadian Solar� (NASDAQ: CSIQ  ) , who round out the top three Chinese solar module suppliers with Trina. All three have high debt, low margins, and massive losses. �

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