Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest - 01/28/11

Snow Day at Water Tower

Snow hit us hard this week in Philadelphia, causing postponement of the Water-Energy Nexus conversation I was to moderate at Morgan Lewis yesterday.  The event, co-sponsored by the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic and the Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technology (PACT), and featuring a top notch group of investors in the water space, has been moved to February 16th.  More details here.

Here are my links for this week:

NRG, ConocoPhillips and GE dive into energy venture capital together with a $300 million fund: Corporate Investors

Cold Fusion From Italy Nearly Commercial Ready. Now this could be a game-changer: Cold Fusion

News about a couple of Green Skeptic portfolio holdings:

EnerNOC Buys M2M for Its Wireless Tech and Utility Contracts in California, Midwest: $ENOC

Cree raises stakes in LED bulb race with a 60W replacement: $CREE

One Degree Solar, which supplies solar products in developing countries is trying to raise $8,000 in 50 days to win the Unreasonable Institute competition.  Join me in supporting this excellent social enterprise: One Degree Solar

DOE's Energy Innovation Portal links energy technologies with market opportunities: DOE

Advancing the clean energy partnership between the United States and China: China-US

And, finally, my pal Alexander Conrad is just trying to get his wife back from China.  But the USCIS is being a pain in the you-know-what.  Read this story and then write to Congressman Larsen to urge him to reunite this family. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

(Disclosure: I hold a long positions in ENOC and CREE. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.  I also serve on the advisory board of One Degree Solar and am co-founder and board member of the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic.)

Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest - 08/13/10

(photo Erika Nortemann/TNC)

It's a special Friday the 13th edition of The Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest!

Some spooky news this week:

A quartet of earnings reports came out this week in cleantech: SunPower, Cree, and A123, LDK: Earnings
 
While there was some good news for Solazyme, which netted $52M for its algae fuel biz: Green with Algae

Not so scary is my old pal Sanjayan from TNC who is profiled in Outside Magazine. The guy is "Mr. Nature" on cable TV these days and looks pretty hot in a tee shirt (look out Anderson Cooper): Sanjayan
 
TechCrunch covered Philly-Based Incubator DreamIt Ventures as 14 Startups were graduated from the Summer 2010 program: DreamIt

Meanwhile, Philly VCs are keeping a close eye on Massachusetts. Technically Philly explains why: Philly VCs

Rapidly becoming one of my favorite greentech reporters Katie Fehrenbacher reported on the joint efforts of  Google and Vinod Khosla to save California's greentech market.
 
Razor sharp insights from Lucy Marcus on why companies need active, engaged, independent, and interested board members: Non-Exec Boards
 
My pal Andy Swan pointed me to this article that explains why cash is the ultimate vote. Do you have a list of people that will BUY what you are selling? 10 Buyers
 
And in case you missed it, here's a link to my appearance on FOX Business with Varney & Co this week, talking about $BP oil spill: Wheres the Oil in the Gulf?

Have a great weekend everybody!

(Disclosure: I hold long positions in $CREE and $AONE. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.)

 

Green Skeptic Friday LinkFest - 07/23/10

Image via Wikipedia

Greetings, it's Friday. I'm getting ready to head down to Oak Island for a little R&R, but not before posting this week's links of interest:

Applied Materials ($AMAT) gave the ax to its thin-film solar business, laying off 500, according to a report in VentureBeat, which could be a blow to Green Skeptic fav First Solar ($FSLR) and other thin-film companies: Thin Film Solar.

A new report from Navigant Consulting describes how US Utilities need clean energy to remain competitive: Utilities.

A piece in the New York Times on privacy and social networks is a must-read: "The Web Means the End of Forgetting".

Green Skeptic favs Silver Spring Networks and EnerNoc ($ENOC) made Greentech Media's Top 10 Green Incumbents List: Top 10 Green.

Another Green Skeptic favorite, Cree, extended its LED market leadership with what it calls the industry's most color-consistent LEDs (press release): $CREE.

No surprises really that China topped the US in energy use. The first time since the early 1900s that the US has not been the top energy consumer: China.

Earth2Tech's Katie Fehrenbacher compares plug-in car chargers: Design Battle: How The Plug-In Car Chargers Compare, while Philly-based and self-proclaimed "cheap electric car maker" BG Automotive gave up the game (a wee too early, in my opinion): BG bites dust.

Senator Mark Udall Co-Sponsors The Startup Visa Act of 2010.

And, finally, the Climate Bill officially died as Senate Dems determined it could get no power, Captain: Climate Fail.


(Disclosure: I hold long positions in FSLR, CREE and ENOC. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.)

CREE LED Market Leader, Continues to Impress

I've been long LED lighting manufacturer $CREE for a long time, as readers of this blog know. Today, Cree continued to impress me with its quarterly earnings release, beating estimates and generating record revenue.

They announced record revenue of $199.5 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2010, ended December 27, 2009, which is a "35 percent increase compared to revenue of $147.6 million reported for the second fiscal quarter last year and an 18 percent increase compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2010," according to a company press release.

“We continued to execute very well in Q2, as we delivered record revenue and net income,” stated Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. “LED lighting adoption continues to gain momentum and our near term focus is on factory execution and capacity expansion. Our strong balance sheet further enhances our leadership position and supports our mission of leading the LED lighting revolution.”

Here are other highlights from the press release:

Q2 2010 Financial Metrics:

* Cash and investments increased $65.6 million from Q1 of fiscal 2010 to $954.1 million.

* Cash flow from operations was $21.5 million. Free cash flow (cash flow from operations less capital expenditures) was ($19.9) million as we spent $41.4 million on capital expenditures.


* Accounts receivable (net) increased $20.3 million from Q1 of fiscal 2010 to $113.4 million, resulting in days sales outstanding of 51, an increase of 1 day from Q1 of fiscal 2010.

* Inventory (net) increased $7.3 million from Q1 of fiscal 2010 to $93.3 million and represents 80 days of inventory, a decrease of 1 day from Q1 of fiscal 2010.


Recent Business Highlights:

* Awarded $39 million in tax credits as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support our investment to build energy efficient LED lighting

* Announced that Cree LED lamps have been selected for an initial deployment in approximately 650 Walmart stores

* Set a new standard for indoor LED lighting with the XLamp® MX-6 LED, the industry’s first lighting-class PLCC LED

* Demonstrated an A-lamp LED light bulb with the highest lumen output and efficacy reported in the industry

* Achieved industry-best reported R&D results of 186 lumens per watt from a white high-power LED

* Purchased a facility for manufacturing expansion in Huizhou, China


Business Outlook:

For its third quarter of fiscal 2010 ending March 28, 2010, Cree targets revenue in a range of $215 million to $225 million with GAAP net income of $37 million to $40 million, or $0.35 to $0.37 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income is targeted to increase quarter-over-quarter to $44 million to $47 million, or $0.41 to $0.44 per diluted share, based on an estimated 107.5 million diluted weighted average shares. Targeted non-GAAP earnings exclude expenses related to the amortization of acquired intangibles of $0.02 per diluted share, and stock-based compensation expense of $0.04 per diluted share.

Here's a link to the full press release: CREE Earnings Q2 2010
 


(Disclosure: I hold a long position in CREE. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.)

Why I like CREE to meet or exceed earnings: bright future for LEDs

I had a funny little exchange with a StockTwits friend about Cree (NASDAQ: CREE) a week or so ago. He and I both like the stock, but for different reasons:

I like that Cree is the market-leading innovator in energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting and innovations. They also develop semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications.

I like the fact that they recently announced the first water-proof, 3-color LED for large displays. This will revolutionize outdoor ads, JumboTrons, and maybe even Times Square.

I also like their area and street lighting applications for which I see all sorts of uses with municipalities, campuses, and the like.

My friend "likes the price strength."

We don't disagree. I like the price strength too, and the moving averages have been trending higher for some time. But its the longer-term product strength, innovation, and product adoption that will make Cree a leader for some time to come.

Others seem to like Cree too: Merriman Curhan Ford recently upgraded Cree from Neutral to Buy, saying "the LED outlook is getting brighter."

Merriman Curhan commented that the company "recently raised its June quarter outlook and we believe the company could meet or exceed the high end of its recently revised guidance. LEDs are rapidly replacing CCFLs in TV backlighting and quickly gaining acceptance in the general lighting market that is benefiting Cree in both the near and long term."

They also think "Cree could exceed $1 billion revenue withing 2-3 years and thinks CREE should trade at 35-38x our FY11 EPS estimate of $1.12 for a $39-$43 price."

According to a report in Reuters, "the change was not enough to move the Zacks Consensus Estimate from its current level of 11 cents per share, it did result in a more bullish most accurate estimate of 14 cents per share."

There are others who think the stock may be overbought and that is something to keep an eye on. And the recent volatility in the stock may give some heartburn.

But, as Zacks pointed out, "projections for fiscal 2010 have gradually been rising, suggesting that guidance could be good. CREE has topped expectations twice and matched forecasts twice during the last 4 quarters."

Cree is reports today (Tuesday, Aug 11), after the close of trading. The stock was up in early trading this morning ahead of the earnings call.


(Disclosure: I hold a long position in CREE. This post is for informational purposes only and is neither intended to be investment advice nor an offer, or the solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any securities.)

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