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Monday, January 30, 2006


Plastic



Trex Plastic TWP

Plastic recycling is a green business but very competitive. The company Trex makes composite wood products like plastic (composite sounds better doesn't it?) decks and fence rails.

At first look, I though the company might be undervalued and ready for a move up. Home Depot is now carrying their products. However, a look at their income statement and balance sheet shows a debt burden and high expansion costs. They haven't reached a good economy of scale yet. The company also has a few patent lawsuits with Exxon (XOM makes more money than any company ). The company also experiences heavy market costs. The heavy sell off in June '05 is also suspect.


Bioplastics

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

STOCK



Sundance and...SlamDance Film Festivals happening right now. This is one of my favorite times of the year.....
Snow, Films, .... jacuzzi's .... hot chili and beer ...
Oh yeah, Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington is in March!

My kind of Film! A Mountain Bike Video

In honor of Independent FIlms I will review the stocks of the film industry...
Besides Pixar, they aren't very moving....


Sony Pictures, a division of Sony
Sony Corporation (ADR) (SNE)

Pixar 
(PIXR)
Walt Disney (DIS)



Dreamworks

Time Warner TWX
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TWX


upn and WB to close
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060124/tv_network.html?.v=7

These people make interesting films and someone there makes money, but not small stock traders....
Lion's Gate Films LGF "hostel" & "lord of war"


I am not sure what this company does? New Star Management

EW SCRIPPS CO SSP
owns HGTV & Food Network Fine Living and Great American Country
IFC films is owned by Cablevision CVC

Tuesday, January 24, 2006


ENER Solar shingles on HGTV



Blog on Uni Solar Shingles at work

I missed the episode of HGTV's "I want that" that shows solar shingles from UniSolar a division of Ovonics and ENER....Apparently the show made people "want that"

Gov't Solar tax credits

To buy UniSolar shingles

Monday, January 23, 2006


ENER: Charge!



I was looking at Energy Conversion Devices' income statement and found they had an unusual profit last year . I was hoping to find that this was a sign that they were becoming profitable. However, their letter to the editor warns about cash use for research and a need for more funds. This tells me they may sell more stock or increase debt. The run in ENER stock price (+200% 2005/6) may be a sign of a good future or increased risk. Since the company is not selling much and is dependent on technology patents and licenses, it is hard to say. They have greatly increased profits from licenses. Note: I am not a bull or bear kind of investoblogger, I just get "some" facts ma'am...

The company reports on the unusual profit in the annual report and letter to shareholders:

ECD Ovonics went from a net loss from continuing operations of $49.2 million in fiscal 2004 to a net income from continuing operations of $49.5 million in the same period of 2005. Primary contributors to the change in net income were as follows:


United Solar Ovonic had a gross profit of $4.4 million in 2005 versus a gross loss of $6.3 million last year.


For the fiscal year 2005, net income was favorably impacted by a one-time noncash revenue of $79.5 million realized by the Company for the additional rights licensed to Cobasys and by an $8.0 million distribution from Cobasys to partially reimburse the Company for legal expenses in connection with the patent litigation resolution in July 2004. The license revenue was in the form of an option (exercised in May 2005) granted by Chevron to the Company to purchase 4,376,633 shares of common stock at a price of $4.55 per share.


In December 2004, the Company received $2.3 million, net of taxes, in connection with the transfer of Chevron's interest in Ovonic Hydrogen, which the Company recognized as an extraordinary item (gain) in fiscal year 2005.


Partially offsetting the above, ECD Ovonics had $2.7 million in expenses in fiscal year 2005 related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, an increase of $2.2 million over 2004.

(Sorry for the cut and paste from the web site)

Cobasys, a joint venture between ECD Ovonics and Chevron, announced that it has received battery pack purchase orders for hybrid vehicle applications from world class automotive companies. These battery systems will be "plug and play" integrated solutions manufactured and assembled at Cobasys' Springboro, Ohio, facility to meet customer program timing. Cobasys also confirmed that it is in the advanced stages of hybrid vehicle prototype development and testing for several transportation and vehicle manufacturing companies located in North America, Europe and Asia.

Energy Conversion Devices has an interesting mix of products including CD-r technology, which it liscences.

The future of hybrid cars lithiumclude Litium Ion or NiMH.
compare battery types:
web site that compares battery types

Hybridcars.com

Johnson Controls

JCI (NYSE) $67.88

I looked at other battery companies:

Exide is a large company and supplies John Deere

2 small interesting companies with a chance ( a chance) of success...

Valence Technology VLNC uses less cadmium for a more envifriendlylly freindly battery, but may not be a strong company.

LTHU.OB

I am not a bull or bear kind of investoblogger, I just get some facts ma'am...

Saturday, January 21, 2006


Value Investing



Stock trading may be slow, but for something to keep y'all posted on good ideas, I found a great site on value investing.


Moneychimp

This site also has a geek note about Fiboncci Numbers..1.68 is magic

A slow and steady 5% investment with dividends beats making 15% and then loosing it...

Some green skiing links from Idealbit.com
green ski blog.....

ps Volcom's stock (VLCM) has really moved up, but the valuation worries me.....but there may be growth as the Chinese start hitting the slopes X Style

NSAA Green Ski Resorts" because water use and tree removal aren't so freindly....

ECO Wearables Swag

ECO Wearables Raw Organique

ECO Warmth @ ECOGROOVY

Friday, January 13, 2006

Going up?



My New year picks are doing well (except for VFC BA BBT, but those are long term investments right?)

Whole Foods stock price is down but their social resposibility goes up as they power with wind

Volcom VLCM is tearing it up and has room to grow.... (I can't figure out how to insert good formatted tables.... sorry for the excess space) But scroll down! --- the chart numbers are there! Links to the stocks are all over my blog, so check out the archives for valuable research goodies!


Stock Ticker Price 12/13/05 1/13/06 gain/loss
ener
Energy Conversion Devices 36.64 51.21 14.57

fcel
FuelCell Energy 8.40 9.63 1.23

eslr
Evergreen Solar 12.05 12.26 0.21

bp
BP 66.88 69.77 2.89

vfc
VF Corp 56.10 56.31 0.21

zqk
Quiksilver 12.49 14.22 1.73

unfi
United Food 28.54 27.91 -0.63

gmcr
Green Mountain Coffee 40.89 39.94 -0.95

wfmi*
Whole Foods 76.17 73.20 -2.97

oats
Wild Oats 11.52 12.16 0.64

zbra
Zebra 43.88 46.16 2.28

vclm
Volcom 33.39 37.20 3.81

cat
Caterpiller 58.97 62.33 3.36

peix
Pacific Gas 8.95 10.19 1.24

ida
Ida Corp 29.40 31.41 2.01

bbt
BB&T 43.08 41.87 -1.21

pep
pepsi 58.97 58.70 -0.27

tm
toyota 98.68 104.28 5.60

xsnx.ob
XSunX 0.56 1.04 0.48

yhoo
yahoo 41.20 39.90 -1.30

31.82


Monday, January 09, 2006

GM's Saturn VUE Hybrid



I think GM is holding out. They have introduced the new Saturn SUV hybrid for summer 1996. Which is a mild hybrid because it only has regenerative braking and maybe 15% better economy....

This auto show article is worth a look...

1994 Motor Trend Test shows the Lexus and Honda Civic are still better.

Battery companies like Panasonic and Cobasys (private) are worth looking into....I'll get right on it....

Whole Foods New Year



Well the new year has started and I am back from a mental vacation. I don't know how Cramer ( from CNBC ) can keep it up.

Good news is that I went to several Whole Foods ( WFMI ) grocery stores in Atlanta and Raleigh and they were jam packed.

The store experience is very good (if slightly high end). I especially enjoy all the outrageous chocolates they have that are not only mucho choco ( 50 %+ cocoa) but are charitable with profits. They carry Paul Newman's chocolate bars and Endangered Species bars ( I am big on improving biodiversity since the reduction of wild land is likely to pressure on many types of animals)

They carry a variety of quality foods, and there is a balance between organic and "regular" brand produce and packaged foods. They also carry a few Argentine wine brands that are much better than many Chilean wines and are under $10.

They stock is now over $77 and near to its pre-split high price. Their competitor Wild Oats market is also holding up, but I can understand why WFMI is trading at a much higher multiple.

Fuel cell stock plays like Fuel Cell Energy (FCEL) are holding on and I don't expect major movement in their stock price as hybrid cars will push battery technology before hydrogen.

As I get back into the swing of things I will write deeper research.
Good investing this new year!! And check previous posts for links to organic beers and alternative outdoor sportswear.