Tag - Amsc

"American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC), a U.S.-based play on wind power, is benefiting from demand in China," saysBrendan Coffey in The Cabot Green Investor.

"AMSC posted net income for its first quarter of $1.8 million, or 4 cents a share, compared to expectations of a slight loss and the per-share loss of 14 cents in 2Q 2008.

"Drop out one-time items, and AMSC earned 12 cents a share -- an impressive result for a company that didn't ever post a profit until last quarter.

"Sales jumped 83% to $73 million. One adage in retail is that the best place to find more sales is with existing customers, and AMSC did just that -- much of its sales came from Sinovel, the leading China wind turbine company, which uses AMSC's designs and electrical components for its turbines.

"Sinovel boosted its standing order with AMSC by $20 million to a total of $470 million. Next year, at least another nine companies globally are scheduled to start using AMSC's designs and components.

"In the long-run AMSC is looking good, with 40, 42 and 45 likely to be resistance and 30 likely to be support. If you don't have some in your portfolio already, buying on dips is the best way to fold in a position."
 

Stocks rallied today suggesting that investors sloughed off fears of a correction or at least pushed out the day of reckoning. The Dow closed up 83.51 to 9,154.23 after a major drop down during the last hour of trading. The Nasdaq closed up 16.54 to end the day at 1,984.30 and the S&P 500 closed up 11.60 to finish at 986.75 after and early session high of 996.68 had traders believing that 1,000 might be broken.

The Russell 2000 closed at 557.75, up 9.37.

Leading price gainers for small-cap today was Georgia Gulf Corporation (NYSE:GGC) up 119% after announcing it had cut its debt load by half. Other small-cap gainers include Valassis Communications (NYSE:VCI) up 30%; Brunswick Corporation (NYSE:BC) up 27%; and American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq:AMSC) up 23%.

Decliners in the small-cap space were lead by Inovio Biomedical Corporation (AMEX:INO) down 53% after announcing today that it had received commitments from institutional investors to purchase $30 million in securities. Other small-cap decliners include Lee Enterprises (NYSE:LEE) down 30%; Alliance Healthcare (NYSE:AIQ) down 30%; and icad (Nasdaq:ICAD) down 20%.

******Stocks have traded in a pretty tight range over the last several sessions. There's been an appearance of weakness, and some comments from talking heads that a correction is coming, or may have started. It's sure not looking that way today.

Stocks are big in the early going. The sell-off in China I mentioned the other day has reversed. All the talk of an imminent overheating of China's economy now sounds like a deliberate attempt to work stocks lower so dips could be bought.

There should be no doubt that games are being played right now. Shenanigans, as I like to call them. But it's also true that economic recovery is an unknown entity: we don't know what's going to happen, how robust the recovery is and what the upside may be. That's why the shenanigans work.

Just this morning, new jobless claims came in higher than expected. That's bad news. But stocks are up big. Many of the ongoing conditions of recession are being discounted because it's widely believed that the economy has bottomed. Some believe the recovery that's going on right now will show up as a surprise number for the third quarter GDP.

*****So that suggests that today's poor unemployment number will soon be a stabilizing, or even improving number. Yesterday's bad durable goods number will be the bottom of the cycle…

Is the market being set-up for a massive disappointment? You bet it is. Will that disappointment materialize? I don't know.

That leaves me, and other investors, in a difficult spot. So, I'm going to continue to do what I've been doing - buy quality stocks in the sectors that make sense, watch them like a hawk and take profits. That approach has worked extremely well in all of my advisory letters.

*****I haven't mentioned my Recovery Portfolio lately. I've added a couple stocks over the last few weeks and just closed a covered call trade on Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK). We made 21% and 25% in four months on a very low risk investment. I'm lining up my next covered call trade, to learn more about Recovery Portfolio, click HERE.

*****SCI Daily readers are the best. Your response to the T-shirt contest I announced yesterday to get the word out on my first book, The Small Cap Investor: Secrets to Winning Big with Small Cap Stocks, was outstanding. And I didn't even give you all the details!

First of all, I neglected to include the link to the SmallCapInvestor Facebook page. Click this link to check it out.

I also didn't mention that everyone who submits a T-shirt slogan will get a 30-day, 100% complimentary trial to my SmallCapInvestor PRO advisory service. Or that the winner gets a one-year subscription to ALL of my advisory and trading services ($2,680 value), plus a signed copy of the book and three t-shirts.

And still, you stepped up to help. Thanks again for your overwhelming support.

I will be taking submissions for the T-shirt slogan until August 9, 2009. Submissions can be made at Facebook or via email (tshirt@smallcapinvestor.com). All email submissions will be posted on Facebook and that's where the voting will take place.

*****It's pretty clear now that the trends we've seen emerging from the financial crisis and recovery will be with us for a long time. I'm talking about high unemployment, higher taxes, a weak dollar, restrictive regulations, and potential inflation, just to name a few.

Clearly, these conditions will have a profound effect on your investments in the months and years ahead.

And because many of these conditions are a direct result of government bailouts, I'm calling the condition Managed America.

We've just completed the update to the Predictions 2009 special report (I mentioned it last week, click here if you need a copy). The report does a cursory review of the past few months and the investing strategy that made big gains for Top Stock Insights subscribers.

More importantly however, the report reveals our investing strategies for the remainder of 2009 and beyond, and explores my concept of Managed America and how you can still make profitable investments. The U.S. economy has changed and investors need to understand the changes in order to make the best investments.

To complement the report, I'm hosting a web video conference on Monday, August 10th at 6:00 p.m. to go over the major themes of Managed America and how you'll make profits from this new economic reality.

The event is free, but you do need to register for it. Click here for the free registration page now to make sure you're on the list to attend.

Best Regards,

Ian Wyatt
Editor
SCI Daily

Brendan Coffey is a leading authority on "green" investing; in his The Cabot Green Investor, the advisor looks to alternative energy firm American Superconductor (NASDAQ:AMSC).

Here's his review of the company, which is a player both in wind power and energy efficient wiring that can play a role in improved power grid systems.

"Long an R&D company, focusing on highly conductive wiring, American Superconductor made a game-changing purchase of an Austrian wind company, Windtec, in early 2007.

"Since the purchase, American Superconductor has become a primary supplier of turbine designs to Sinovel, one of China’s three major turbine manufacturers. Sales to Sinovel alone have topped $600 million from 16 GW worth of 1.5 MW turbines.

"In China’s turbine business, bigger is better, so now, AMSC is starting to ship 3 MW turbines to Sinovel as well.

"A unique wrinkle to American Superconductor’s business model is it not only sells the turbine design, as most companies will do, but also attaches the condition that it gets the right to sell the electrical components into each turbine sold—it is the classic razor blade model of adding very profi table incremental revenue to an initial sale.

"Criticized that business is too reliant on Sinovel (and its two other current customers, Canada’s AAER and Germany’s Fuhrlander), AMSC is expanding its customer base.

"Over the next 18 months, it will start shipping turbines to another 10 companies in countries such as Turkey, India and the Czech Republic, as well as additional Chinese firms.

"Now, American Superconductor’s original business—high conductive wire—is coming into its own. The company just sold 50 miles of its next generation 344 wire to Korea Electric Power, the first sizable sale of the wire (although 344 is used by power authorities in New York and Ohio in specifi c applications already).

"Since minimizing power loss along transmission wires is essential to improving energy efficiency, the 344 wire looks to be a compelling proposition since it is 10 times more efficient than same-size standard copper wire for transmitting . . .

DryShips Inc. (Nasdaq:DRYS), A Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd (Nasdaq:APWR) and Dendreon Corp. (Nasdaq:DNDN) are among the most actively traded companies in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq:CSIQ), Pozen Inc. (Nasdaq:POZN), Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (Nasdaq:CLNE), American Superconductor Corp. (Nasdaq:AMSC), Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd (Nasdaq:ALDN) and ATP Oil & Gas Corporation (Nasdaq:ATPG).

Here are the most actively traded companies among small caps:

UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA), Canadian Solar Inc. (Nasdaq:CSIQ) and A Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq:APWR) are among the most actively traded companies in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: American Superconductor Corp. (Nasdaq:AMSC), Willis Lease Finance Corp. (Nasdaq:WLFC), Solarfun Power Holdings Co Ltd (Nasdaq:SOLF), Epicor Software Corp. (Nasdaq:EPIC), Bank of the Ozarks Inc. (Nasdaq:OZRK) and Ceradyne Inc. (Nasdaq:CRDN).

Here are the most actively traded companies among small caps:

North American Energy Partners Inc. (Nasdaq:NOA), Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP (Nasdaq:CLMT) and EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq:EZCH) are among the biggest percentage losers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: American Superconductor Corp. (Nasdaq:AMSC), Jinpan International Ltd. (Nasdaq:JST), Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd. (Nasdaq:EXM), Safe Bulkers Inc. (Nasdaq:SB), Otelco Inc. (Nasdaq:OTT) and General Cable Corp. (Nasdaq:BGC).

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps:

Today concludes SmallCapInvestor.com’s Roundtable. In this final installment, our experts examine the alternative energy sector, compare the tech bubble burst with the current implosion of financials and take the temperature of the current state of the credit market. Taking a look at the international investing landscape, our experts still perceive the emerging nations, particularly China, to be the hottest destination for investment. And lastly our experts on average forecast the small-cap index Russell 2000 will end the year higher than it is today. (This is part five of a five part series.)

What do you think about alternative energy? Do you think that energy prices need to remain inflated for the alternative energy space to remain profitable? 

Oberweis: “No, the key for alternative energy is the subsidies, quite frankly. The real danger to buying solar stocks right now is there’s some momentum in the Spanish and German markets, which are the two of the large consumers and drivers of the adoption of solar energy, to reduce or remove the subsidies that are making the technologies economical and affordable. That’s probably a much bigger and more important driver of the success of solar companies than the actual price of oil.”

O’Halloran: “Alternative energy is an industry where we have very strong forces helping the companies. We have three holdings in solar energy: SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq:SPWR), Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (Nasdaq:ENER) and JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq:JASO). This year we have more wind energy companies in the portfolio because wind energy is just starting to ramp up aggressively like solar did over the past couple of years. 

“American Superconductor (Nasdaq:AMSC) and Woodward Governor Company (Nasdaq:WGOV) — whose equipment is used to adjust turbine-generated power for conveyance to electrical grids — are a couple. There are also companies such as RBC Bearings Inc. (Nasdaq:ROLL) and Kaydon Corp. (NYSE:KDN), which make bearings for the wind turbines. Another is ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE:ITC), which is in the process of rebuilding electrical transmission lines as part of a federal government initiative. These upgrade lines will help take energy from [wind farms], put it on to the electrical grid and get it into homes. Fuel cells and their technology and ethanol are either too early or not profitable enough for us to be involved with . . .

Propelling forward the idea of alternative energy sources are wind turbines—machines that produce electricity from converted kinetic energy in wind.  

Wind energy is the world’s fastest-growing energy sector and is already well-established in Europe, where it accounts for over 40,000 megawatts of generating capacity. Although most of the large wind turbine providers are European companies, a few American companies also participate. Two in particular, American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC) and Composite Technology Corporation (OTC: CPTC), have been benefiting from rapid growth in this alternative energy sector.

In 2005, wind energy installed globally reached nearly 60,000 megawatts, up nearly 12,000 megawatts from the prior year. By 2020, it has been estimated that as much as 1,250 gigawatts of wind power could be installed worldwide, a more than 20-fold increase compared to 2005. Wind turbines typically cost between $900,000 and $1,300,000 per megawatt; the turbine market in 2005 was valued at approximately $12 billion.

In the United States today, the renewable energy in wind provides enough electricity for approximately 2.4 million American households. A major growth driver for U.S. wind turbine installations results from the Federal Production Tax Credit, which guarantees a tax credit of 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour for U.S. wind projects over the first ten years of their life. At the state level, an additional incentive is provided by state tax credits similar to the Federal Production Tax Credit. Wind energy tax credits are available in 18 states, including the three most populated—California, Texas and New York.

Composite Technology manufactures and markets 1.25 megawatt and 2 megawatt wind energy turbines worldwide through its Dewind segment, which it acquired in July 2006. 

In August 2007, the company announced firm orders for $53 million in turbine and turbine parts; most of these turbines are scheduled for delivery in 2008. The company shipped its first large 2 megawatt turbine in September 2007.

Shares of American Superconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: AMSC) got a jolt in pre-market trading this morning after the energy technologies company, announced that it received a follow-on $70 million order for wind turbine electrical systems from Beijing-based Sinovel Wind Corp. Ltd.

American Superconductor’s subsidiary, AMSC Windtec, will ship the customized electrical systems to Sinovel in 2008 for use in Sinovel's 1.5 megawatt wind energy systems.

AMSC Windtec turbine electrical systems provide wind turbine operation by controlling power flows, regulating voltage and controlling the pitch of wind turbine blades to maximize efficiency.

Shares of American Superconductor climbed 6.23%, or $1.22, to $20.80 in pre-market trading.

Custom stuffed animal maker Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW) is evaluating potential strategic alternatives to enhance long-term shareholder value and plans on expanding its North American store base to at least 350 stores, the St. Louis, Mo.-based company  said this morning. Shares are up $3.25, or 14%, to $25.76.

Shares of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. (Nasdaq: TRMP) are up on news this morning that the Atlantic City, N.J.-based casino hotels have been upgraded to “Peer Perform” from “Underperform” by investment bank Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. (NYSE: BSC).

The Russell 2000 closed just shy of a new record after briefly venturing into uncharted territory this afternoon.  In specific small cap action, shares of Antigenics Inc.’s (Nasdaq: AGEN) rose on upbeat results from clinical trials of its kidey cancer drug, while American Superconductor Corp. (Nasdaq: AMSC) lifted its stock price after releasing a new power grid technology.

The Russell 2000 gained 9.99 points, or 1.21%, to 833.65, just below its May 9 closing high of 834.77.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 13.65 points, or 0.10%, to close at 13,542.88.