Picks and shovels in solar sector"I’ve always been partial to going with the 'pick-and-shovel' companies; in the solar sector, that means buying the companies that make the equipment that makes photovoltaic (PV) panels," says Gregg Early. In The New World, the high tech expert offers a pair of plays: Spire Corp. (NASDAQ:SPIR) and CVD Equipment (NYSE:CVV). Stocks with investor-focused managements"The companies I like have established positions in markets that have a proven commitment to distributed power generation and continue to make major investments in renewable energy technologies, with solar being the lead technology. "Two pick-and-shovel companies that I like are tiny companies, but they’ve been working smart, expanding their customer base and gaining strong international reputations along the way. "Spire is a Massachusetts based company that is closely held--about 80% of its stock is held by the CEO and executive officers--and has come into its own as a manufacturer of turnkey PV production lines. "Much of its recent business is selling facilities to power companies in Europe and Asia that are interested in making their own PV systems as opposed to contracting to large foreign PV firms. The advantage of these deals is it allows these companies to stay in control of the knowledge base. "Although its business may suffer along with the sector, most of this has been priced in already, or, as Warren Buffett said of the market in general, overpriced in. Spire Corp is a buy at current levels if you have some risk capital . . .
SBE, Inc. leads Wednesday small-cap percentage gainersComputer hardware maker SBE, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBEI) is rising on heavy trading. Swedish mobile device developer Neonode received a large order from the Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor on Wednesday. SBE announced it’s merging with Neonode earlier in the year. The merger awaits shareholder approval until Aug. 10. New Brunswick Scientific Co., Inc. (Nasdaq: NBSC) announced it is being taken private by the German laboratory products maker Eppendorf in a $110 million deal. Solar cell products maker Amtech Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASYS) said it’s booked $4.4 million in new orders. These are the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million: spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer
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