E•BOOM CAPITAL: Investors Chose 6 E•B Clean 100 Companies in Pre-Holiday Trading
Two fuel cell companies were among the six top performers in the EnergyBoom Clean 100 Index (E•B Clean 100) over the five trading days leading up to the Christmas break.
Shares of FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) were up 28.7 percent (down 44.5 percent year to date) and shares of Ballard Power Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDP) were up 14.5 percent (down 16 percent YTD).
Overall, the E•B Clean 100 was up 1.25 percent over the five days, compared with the S&P 500 Index (+1.12 percent), the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+1.43 percent) and the NASDAQ Composite (+0.87 percent).
Other top E•B Clean 100 performers were:
- German-based ethanol producer CropEnergies AG (ETR: CE2) up 19.4 percent (up 39 percent YTD)
- German-based solar photovoltaic cell manufacturer Q-Cells AG (QCLSF:PK) up 18.6 percent (down 77 percent YTD)
- Canadian mining exploration company Canada Lithium Corp. (CLQ.TO) up 15 percent (up 142 percent YTD)
- Chinese-based solar wafer manufacturer ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) up 11.3 percent (up 90 percent YTD)
Neither FuelCell Energy nor Ballard Power are likely to generate profits any time soon, although Ballard Power’s revenues are growing and its losses slowly shrinking, while FuelCell Energy’s business is going in the opposite direction.
Curiously, investors have been rewarding FuelCell Energy the past six months with share price increases of 71 percent, 80 percent and 67 percent over one month, three months and six months respectively, while investors have been much less enthusiastic about Ballard Power (up 7.5 percent, down 7 percent and down 4.8 percent over one month, three months and six months respectively).
FuelCell Energy, Inc.
FuelCell Energy, based in Danbury, Connecticut, provides distributed (off-the-grid) power generation systems powered with high-temperature carbonate fuel cells that convert natural gas or renewable gas to hydrogen and then produce electricity and heat without combustion.
The company targets a broad range of markets: backup power for industry, retail, office buildings and schools; off-the-grid power for remote telecom, mining, and oil and gas installations; power for wastewater treatment plants using methane byproduct from these plants; and peak power for grid utilities.
A typical recent FuelCell Energy installation is the regional wastewater treatment facility in Tulare, California, where three fuel cell plants use methane released from the treatment process to generate 900 kilowatts (0.9 megawatts) of electricity to power the facility, reduce its emissions and increase plant efficiencies by preheating waste sludge. About 40 percent of FuelCell Energy’s California installations are wastewater treatment facilities.
In FuelCell Energy’s 12-month financial results to October 31, 2010, the company reported a net loss of $56.3 million (loss of $68.6 million in the same period of 2009) on declining revenues of $69.8 million ($88 million in 2009). Cash and U.S. Treasury securities at October 31 were $45.5 million, compared with $65 million 12 months earlier.
Ballard Power Systems
Ballard Power is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. In its nine- month financial results to Sept 30, 2010, the company reported a net loss of $26.5 million ($28.9 million in 2009) on revenues of $43.9 million ($30.2 million in 2009)
Cash and short-term investments were $72 million compared with $82 million at Dec. 31, 2009.
The nine-month revenues of $43.9 million came from three business segments: $19.4 million from proton exchange membrane fuel cell products (stationary power systems, transit buses and fork lifts), $7.8 million from contract manufacturing for light-duty automobile fuel cell products from such companies as Daimler AG (XETRA: DAI.DE) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), and $16.6 million from carbon friction material products for automotive applications and gas diffusion layer material for fuel cell products.
A typical installation of Ballard’s stationary power systems was announced Dec 20, 2010 with the sale of a 1.25 megawatt fuel cell system to Real Time Engineering PTE. Ltd. of Singapore. Real Time will develop a 1 megawatt distributed power generator for deployment in Singapore. The first generator will be installed at a new industrial development site and used in a base load application using hydrogen fuel produced on-site from biomass feedstock.
Photo credit: Ballard Power
DISCLOSURE: The writer has no positions in, or professional connections with, these companies.
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