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Energy Watch Part I: Alternative Energy’s Biggest Losers (HYDG, NBF, BIOF, PEIX, XNL)

247wallst — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:15:00 +0000

We have been reviewing which publicly traded energy companies have lost the most value in the past year, and we are breaking these down by sector and by sub-sector. While composing this list is not particularly amusing, it does give an us an idea of what’s happening in the energy business. The days of throwing darts at a group of energy stocks are seeming to be farther and farther in the past as investors seem to be looking at quality more than evvery after turbulent times. Today’s installment looks at alternative energy.

Hydrogen fuel cell start-up HydroGen (NASDAQ: HYDG) tops the list withdrop of nearly 96%, from a 52-week high of $3.94 to $0.14. The companyis developing a 400-kW phosphoric acid fuel cell, and is burning cashat the rate of nearly $2 million a month. The NASDAQ exchange haswarned the company of possible delisting by January 1, 2009, unless itcan bring its share price up to the minimum $1/share. The company laidoff approximately 64% of its Ohio workforce in May, but even that isnot likely to help for long.

Nova Biosource Fuels (AMEX:NBF) has dropped more than 89%, from a highof $3.10 to $0.28. Nova is building distilleries to make biodiesel froma wide variety of feedstocks, such as soybean oil, pork fat, and beeftallow. The company’s problems stem from a shortage of working capital,a shortage of feedstocks, and higher prices for the feedstock that isavailable. The company needs to complete a demonstration project by theend of September in order to meet the terms of one of its creditagreements. That looks to be a formidable challenge.

Ethanol stocks are also taking a beating. BioFuel Energy (NASDAQ:BIOF)has fallen from a high of $8.40 to $0.90. It establisheda new low yesterday, brought on by its announcement that it does nothave the cash to meet a $26 million hedging loss. The company is hopingto persuade Cargill to agree to a payment schedule that BioFuel canmeet. This does not look good.

Another player in the sector is Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ: PEIX), which garnered much attention in recent years as Bill Gates was once a massive stakeholder. He’s been a seller but he probably wishes he would have unloaded it all long ago. Its recent earnings didn’t add any love and shares are down close to $2.00 with a 52-week range of $1.45 to $12.80. In 2006 this was trading over $30.00, so it is a serial disappointment.

Xethanol (AMEX:XNL) is down almost 64% in the past 52 weeks, from ahigh of $1.20 to its current $0.49. The news is even worse when yourecall that the stock hit an all-time high of around $15 about 2 yearsago. Fears that the federal subsidy will be eliminated or reduced orthat Brazil will begin exporting ethanol to the US have not improvedthe outlook for any ethanol producer. Add in higher corn prices, andthe recipe doesn’t look too appetizing.

The unproven alt-energy companies, like HydroGen and Nove Biosource,face financing problems in the tight capital markets. The establishedtechnologies, like ethanol, face weakening prices, higher costs,relatively low barriers to entry, and have an embedded social/politicalput option in them. The alt-energy arena is searching for a place and away to make money in difficult times for everybody.

Paul Ausick
August 13, 2008

Upgrades & Downgrades in Oil & Gas (BHI, SII, HAL, NOV, SLB, WFT, BJS, SE, TTES, NBF)

247wallst — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:38:47 +0000

These are some of the top analyst calls in oil and gas stocks we have seen in the early hours of trading this Tuesday morning.

Citigroup picked up new coverage on many stocks today. Its new HOLD rated positions are as follows: Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) and Smith Intl (NYSE: SII). Its new BUY rated stocks are as follows: Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), National Oilwell Varco (NYSE: NOV), and Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB). Citi also made two downgrades as both Weatherford (NYSE: WFT) and BJ Services (NYSE: BJS) were downgrades to HOLD from BUY ratings.

UBS has also made a select call on Spectra Energy (NYSE: SE) as it was started as a BUY rating.

Jefferies started coverage on T-3 Energy Services Inc. (NASDAQ: TTES) as a BUY rated stock. Jefferies also downgraded Nova Biosource Fuels (AMEX: NBF) to HOLD from BUY.

Jon C. Ogg
July 1, 2008

Pre-Market Stock News (August 16, 2007)

247wallst — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:35:09 +0000

(AMGN) Amgen announced 12-14% layoffs and lowered guidance for 2007.
(ANX) ADVENTRX Pharma announces fast track designation granted by the FDA for CoFactor for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.
(AUXL) Auxilium Pharma receivef FDA clearance to resume clincal trials for XIAFLEX for the treatment of Dupuytren’s contracture.
(BAX) Baxter awarded pandemic advanced supply contract from Deptartment of Health.
(CFC) Countrywide Financial tapped an $11 Billion line of credit.
(CPHD) Cepheid entered into a 5 year agreement with Northrop Grumman for the purchase of anthrax test cartridges.
(CRM) Salesforce.com trading down 1% today after posting $0.03 EPS vs $0.01 est.
(EL) Estee Lauder $0.45 EPS vs $0.50 est.
(FCTR) First Charter to be acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp for $31.00 per share.
(FLO) Flowers Foods $0.24 EPS vs $0.23 est.
(FLR) Fluor won a contract from Toshiba International for engineering, procurement and construction-related services for two nuclear power plants.
(FTD) FTD Group $0.36 EPS vs $0.28 est.
(GGBM) GigaBeam received an order for four WiFiber links from a new partner that is establishing a metro ethernet network in Los Angeles.
(GRMN) Garmin noted as an immune growth stock in a crummy market.
(JCP) J.C.Penney $0.78 EPS vs $0.78 est.; sees Q3 $1.28 EPS vs $1.43 est.
(KFT) Kraft Foods is considering selling off its cereals unit according to WSJ.
(LMS) Lamson & Sessions enters into $27.00 merger and a $0.30 special dividend as it will become part of TNB-Thomas & Betts.
(MCO) Moody’s may be in trouble with Congress over failures to warn over CDO ratings and risk activities.
(MGPI) MGP Ingredients $0.10 EPS vs $0.14 est.
(NAPS) Napster in marketing pact with Maxfield’s MP3 player in Germany.
(NBF) Nova Biosource Fuels will acquire a biodiesel refinery in Iowa with a 10 million gallon per year capacity.
(QCOM) Qualcomm’s ex-CEO noted that the suits could cost the company over $2 Billion in revenues if all the terms stand.
(SPAR) Spartan Motors chassis unit received a $53 million subcontract order from BAE Systems.
(SUNW) Sun Micro in free download of StarOffice suite at the Google Pack site.
(TTWO) Take-Two Interactive has received a Wells Notice from the SEC.
(WFMI) Whole Foods announced it is extending its offer for Wild Oats.
(WW) Watson Wyatt $0.71 EPS vs $0.67 est.

Jon C. Ogg
August 16, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.