6 Clean Energy Stocks Investors Should Know About

In the wake of constrained oil supplies caused in large part by the war in Ukraine, clean energy investing has taken a back seat to efforts to increase production of fossil fuels and natural gas. Despite this short-term shift, the quest for clean energy remains in place, and several contributors to MoneyShow.com continue to find long-term opportunities in the space. Adam Johnson, Bullseye Brief ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. is the global #1 provider of EV chargers for both commercial and home use, with someone plugging into a ChargePoint charger every two seconds. The company leverages rising EV demand with first-mover advantage and recurring revenue. The company not only manufactures chargers which it sells through retailers like Home Depot , it also serves EV customers as the largest platform operator of integrated hardware, cloud services and support. If you are traveling coast to coast, ChargePoint will map out your route from charging station to charging station and coordinate all billing. If you are a fleet operator, ChargePoint's AI-powered software will optimize charging times and route scheduling. Revenues are rising 75%, and the company could generate positive cash flow by 2023, as well as profits by 2025. As EV penetration rises, ChargePoint's business could grow many-fold, as there are currently one-fourth as many charging stations in the U.S. as gas stations (40k vs 170k). My target of $65 reflects a price-to-sales multiple of 10x estimated 2025 revenue of $1.5M. Plug Power Inc. , the leading hydrogen ecosystem enabler, has scale and first-mover advantage in a potential $200B clean energy market. Plug aspires to lead the conversion of industrial/construction vehicles from diesel to hydrogen over the next decade. The company produces more liquified hydrogen fuel than all competitors combined and has articulated a 10-year plan to add capacity backed by long-term supply agreements with major fleet operators. Plug Power also builds the hydrogen consuming fuel cells which produce 100% green electricity and operates the world's largest hydrogen distribution network. Revenues could double this year, potentially enabling positive cashflow by Q3 and setting the stage for after-tax profitability by 2023. JPMorgan estimates Plug's market opportunity at $200B, which creates a significant runway for growth, especially given the company's scale and first-mover advantage. My price target is $49. Sunnova Energy International, Inc. is a leading solar provider with the largest installer network; it leverages the transformative shift to residential solarfication. The firm ranks as the nation's third largest installer/servicer and network operator of residential solar systems, but number one in terms of profitability... no other company comes close to matching its industry-high gross margins of 50%. Sunnova's regional network of dealers provide flexibility and lower operating costs, while its sophisticated use of tax credits and customer contract securitization generate significant operating leverage. Last year the company acquired the in-house solar installation subsidiary of Lennar , called SunStreet, tripling its access to prospective customers and likely driving top-line growth by at least 40% through 2023. Trading at 6 times sales estimates for 2022, I think shares could rise significantly given +50% top line growth. Near-term, easing of Chinese tariffs could lower poly silicon input prices. Longer-term, the pivot to residential solarfication could drive NOVA many turns higher -- fewer than 2% of U.S. households rely on self-sufficient solar systems. Carl Delfeld, Cabot Explorer While many think that wind and solar are the answer to climate change, about 60% of the reduction in CO2 emissions during the past 15 years has come from switching from coal to natural gas. And while trillions of private and tax dollars were spent on wind and solar projects over the last 20 years, the world's dependence on fossil fuels only declined from 87% to 84%. So if the top risks to the world right now are climate change and geopolitical conflict, the growth of nuclear energy in both America and China is essential. Nuclear energy is virtually emissions-free energy, takes up very little land, consumes very little fuel, contributes to fuel diversification and the stability of the grid, creates skilled, well-paid jobs, and produces very little waste. It's the technology that solves both energy poverty and climate change. Then there is the important issue of reliability. Nuclear power plants on average operate at full power on 336 out of 365 days per year. In addition, nuclear plants can run for 100 years while solar panels and wind turbines last only about 20 years. No wonder nuclear power accounts for 70% of France's electricity mix and 30% for Switzerland, South Korea and Sweden. Centrus Energy , based in Bethesda, Maryland, supplies nuclear fuel and services for the nuclear power industry in the United States, Japan, Belgium and internationally. The nuclear power industry is rapidly changing, with a new generation of advanced reactors under development. Centrus provides an integrated solution for meeting the industry's engineering, manufacturing and fuel needs. Drawing on decades of experience, Centrus can help with the design and manufacture of critical components as well as design, and licensing of facilities to produce new fuels. One near-term catalyst for this stock is that the Biden administration is pushing lawmakers to support a $4.3 billion plan to buy enriched uranium directly from domestic producers to wean the U.S. off Russian imports of the nuclear reactor fuel. Russia accounts for about 23% of the enriched uranium needed to power U.S. commercial nuclear reactors. Energy Department officials are making the case that any interruption in the supply of enriched Russian uranium could cause operational disruptions at commercial nuclear reactors. The proposal aims to spur development of more domestic enrichment and other steps needed to turn uranium into reactor fuel. This would create a government buyer directly purchasing enriched uranium, including the type used in a new breed of advanced reactors now under development. Right now, America has only one remaining commercial enrichment facility -- a New Mexico plant owned by Urenco Ltd., a British-German-Dutch consortium. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has called the U.S. reliance on Russian imports a clear vulnerability. Other backers of expanding U.S. enrichment capabilities include Senator John Barrasso, a favorite of mines and a Wyoming Republican who serves as the top GOP member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Centrus Energy is building an enrichment facility in Ohio and would be very likely to benefit, especially if this funding moves forward. In addition, the stock is trading at about $25, way off its 52-week high of $88 and at just 2.6 times earnings. Centrus also has an operating margin of 23%. I believe downside risk is low and upside is significant, and I have a six-month target of $50. Marty Fridson, Forbes/Fridson Income Securities Investor Brookfield Renewable Partners, LP is an MLP and one of the world's largest renewable power companies. Its portfolio consists of Hydroelectric, Wind, Solar, and Energy Transition facilities in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. BEP has maintained a well-diversified portfolio of generation assets that operate under long-term contracts with investment-grade counterparties. The Bermuda-based partnership was initially recommended in June 2015 as a Buy for all taxable risk portfolios. We subsequently reviewed the partnership in August 2019, reaffirming our recommendation. Although Bermuda-based for tax purposes, BEP's corporate headquarters are in Toronto, Canada. The company is approximately 60% owned by Brookfield Asset Management , a Canadian multinational company and one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies. BEP reported strong Q1 2022 financial results. Adjusted funds from operations for the quarter were $292.0 million or $0.45 per common unit, up 19.2% from the prior year's first quarter. Results edged ahead of analysts' estimates. Revenue was in line with expectations. BEP's quarterly distribution was cut 20% in Q2 2020, during the early phase of the pandemic, but has since resumed slow growth. We continue to recommend BEP's common units as a Buy for all risk taxable portfolios. The partnership issues a K-1 to investors for tax purposes. However, unitholders can convert BEP into the Brookfield Renewable Corp. , and receive 1099 dividends as opposed to K-1 distributions. BEP and BEPC are identical in terms of economic risk. We think investing in the common shares (BEPC) is simpler from a tax and accounting perspective. With this review we are maintaining the fair value price at $39.50. Brendan Coffey, Cabot SX Greentech Advisor Ormat Technologies is an established developer and operator of geothermal power plants that's been expanding to related renewable operations in recent years. The company has been in operation for more than 50 years and is a pioneer in the sector. It's also the second-largest operator of geothermal assets in the country, after Calpine, a utility. At its most basic, geothermal takes steam produced beneath the earth's surface from hot water heated by magma to generate electricity. The World Bank estimates there are 70 to 80 gigawatts (GW) of geothermal power potential to be tapped by existing technologies. The world market remains a sliver of that, at 15.9 GW at the end of 2021, up from 246 megawatts (MW), or 0.25 GW, from the year before, according to data from ThinkGeo Energy, an industry publication. Ormat owns and operates 910 MW of geothermal in 23 developments in the U.S. and abroad, mainly around the ring of fire of the Pacific Ocean, where volcanic activity puts geothermal resources relatively close to the surface. About 30% of capacity is international, in Guatemala, Kenya, Honduras, France's Guadeloupe island and Indonesia. Never a fast-growth organization, Ormat management is starting to focus on quickening its pace, embracing energy storage for improving growth, looking to triple its size to about 290 MW by the end of next year through eight projects, all in existing U.S. markets, to take advantage of established markets where energy demand during peak times can yield strong prices for stored electricity. Ormat is also aiming to boost total electricity generation capacity to 1.2 GW by year-end 2023 (up from 910 MW entering this year). This will come from nine geothermal projects under development and six solar projects underway (all in the U.S.). Ormat is vertically integrated, meaning it manufacturers essentially everything it needs for geothermal, resulting in little supply chain exposure, according to management. Shares are showing excellent relative strength to the S&P 500 and show various price and trading action that suggest it may be close to exiting a consolidation period and breaking out to the upside. Right now, shares are in a range between $70 and $85, with moving average support at $75. The shares had a spike to all-time highs at $127 at the peak of the pandemic bull market in early 2021, but otherwise have conformed to a slow, steady, long-term uptrend that suggest a firm bottom of $65 to the downside for shares. Technically, ORA would break out of a consolidating double-bottom type formation if shares can hit $86.60 on strong volume. That would be our point to buy.

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