by Tom Konrad Ph.D., CFA

I’m experimenting with how to display the returns of the 10 Clean Energy Stocks model portfolio.  My Patreon supporters seem fairly evenly split between the two options show below, so I’m opening the poll up to my broader readership.

You can see the two most popular options below (with real return data through the end of February) and take the poll here.

Comments are welcome as well.

DISCLOSURE: Long all stocks in the model portfolio.

The post 10 Clean Energy Stocks: Returns Through February/ Poll appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

by Tom Konrad, CFA

Several readers have been leaving comments on my articles about the stocks they think I should include in my upcoming “Ten Clean Energy Stocks for 2015” list.  So far, I have not found one that gets me interested, but I have gotten useful ideas from readers in the past.  So now’s your chance:

Leave a comment here about your favorite clean energy stock, and why you think it’s a great pick for 2015.  I’ll publish a compendium of your suggestions, along with my reactions to them in January.  But I’ll try to look at them all before I finalize the 2015 list on December 31st, just so you have a chance of what you really want: me writing about your favorite stock every month for the next year.

Happy Holidays!

Tom

PS: Please limit your requests to one US-listed stock each. I’m not Santa Claus, and can only climb down so many chimneys in a night.

The post My Christmas Present To Readers: A Quick Look At Your Favorite Stocks appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

The Canada-US Income Tax Convention provides for the withholding of a 15% or 25% income tax on dividends and interest on dividends payed on Canadian Securities to US residents.  (This includes many of my favorite green income stocks.)  Most people can qualify for the reduced rate by filling out the NR301 Canadian tax form.  Others, such as charitable organizations and retirement accounts qualify for an exemption.

Many custodians don’t get this right, and recovering improperly withheld payments is considerable work, when it’s possible at all.  Canada requires one form NR7-R form per security and per dividend payment, plus supporting documentation.

The long and the short of it is, if you’re going to invest in income producing Canadian securities through your IRA, it’s very important to pick the right custodian.

I plan to write a much more in-depth article on this next month, but since I only have direct experience with this at two custodians (E*Trade (NASD:ETFC) and Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW)), I’d like to get readers’ experiences with other custodians so I can give a comprehensive guide as to which custodians handle this most effectively.

If you own dividend paying Canadian stocks in a US retirement account, please take my survey, or leave a comment.

I don’t want to prejudice the survey by relating my experiences yet, but here are some stocks for which I know that some custodians withhold tax:

AQUNF, INGXF, MCQPF, NFYEF, NPIFF, PENGF, PFBOF, TRSWF, WFIFF

Survey Link

This article was first published on the author’s Forbes.com blog, Green Stocks on April 1st

The post Canadian Tax Withholding In IRAs (Poll) appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

In order to improve AltEnergyStocks.com, we’re trying to get to know our readers better. We’ve put together a short survey, and in order to make it worth your time to tell us about yourself and how we can improve the site, we’re offering an incentive.  One respondent will win a copy of Investment Opportunities for a Low Carbon World, of which Charles has reviewed the Wind and Solar and Efficiency and Geothermal chapters so far.

Please take a few minutes to complete our short reader survey.

Thanks!

The AltEnergyStocks.com Team

Note: This contest will end when we reach our 100-response monthly quota on PollDaddy, which we expect to happen sometime on 9/20/09.  If you didn’t get a chance to respond, we encourage you to leave your ideas for site improvement in the comments section, or you can return when our monthly quota is reset on 9/26/09.  Thanks to all of you who have responded; the winner will be announced soon.

The post Getting to Know AltEnergyStocks.com Readers appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

The results of last week’s poll:

	Answer Text	Votes	%
	Lithium Technology Corp (LTHU) – Batteries	64	14%
	Evergreen Solar (ESLR) – Solar PV	62	13%
	US Geothermal (HTM) – Geothermal	61	13%
	Ocean Power Tech (OPTT) – Wave Power	49	11%
	Electro Energy (EEEID) – Batteries	49	11%
	China Wind Systems (CWSI.OB) – Wind Turbine Parts	47	10%
	AAER Inc. (AAERF) – Wind	30	6%
	Carmanah Technologies (CMHXF) – Off Grid Solar/LED	30	6%
	SolarFun Power Holdings (SOLF) – Solar PV	29	6%
	Satcon Technologies (SATC) – Power Conversion	25	5%
	OM Group (OMG) – Hydrogen Catalysts	19	4%
		465

Stay tuned for articles on Lithium Technology Corp, Evergreen Solar, and US Geothermal.  I have not previously researched any of these in depth, so I’m as curious as the rest of you.

The post And the Winners Are… appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

I’ll pick 2-3 from this list, based on reader response to this poll, for future articles. You can vote for more than one company. – tom

The post Vote on What I Should Research Next appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

I get a large number of emails asking "What do you think of Company X?"  Unlike Jim Cramer, I don’t have a lot to say about companies I have not been following, so all I usually do is point the reader to the most recent related article (something they could have found with the search feature in the right nav bar), if I have written one.   However, this spring I decided to research a couple companies solely based on reader’s requests, and the articles have proven very popular, especially the one on Petrosun’s Algae Farms.

The recent surge of email I’ve gotten has convinced me that it’s time to do it again.  As I did last time, I’ll collect suggestions in the comments on this entry, and when I have five or more, I’ll put together a poll to see which companies most readers are interested in.  Note that even if you’ve sent me an email request in the past, I want to favor the suggestions of regular readers, so please take the time to leave a comment.  If you like, you can also make the case as to why this particular company is interesting… I’ll make reference to any such comments when I do the poll.

I know it’s a lot more complicated than shooting me off an email, but this way, you might actually get a useful answer.

Tom Konrad

The post Readers’ Choice appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

I plan to write about a couple of the companies that readers asked about two weeks ago.  I’d like to research the ones of interest to as many readers as possible.  Let me know!

UPDATE: I’ll publish articles on CPTC.OB and PSUD.PK soon. If the stock you want to know about is not in the poll, please leave a comment here, and I’ll do another round at a future date. Tom

The post Pick the Next Stocks I Research appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

I often get questions from readers asking me what I think about this alternative energy company or that one.  Much of the time, I simply have to say "I haven’t researched it."  What can I say, I’m not Jim Cramer.  Even when I do have an opinion, and the question is left in the comments (my rule is, if you want free advice, you have to be willing to share,) it’s probably not researched in the depth that the person was hoping for.

For all of you wondering about my take on a specific stock, please let me know by leaving a comment on this article.  I’ll write articles with the same depth of research I’m doing in the current 10 Solid Clean Energy Companies to Buy on the Cheap series on at least some of them.  The Ten Solid Companies series will resume this Sunday with a company focused on efficient transportation.  

When that series is over, we’ll have a look at some of our Readers’ requests.

DISCLAIMER: The information and trades provided here and in the comments are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to buy or sell any of these securities. Investing involves substantial risk and you should evaluate your own risk levels before you make any investment. Past results are not an indication of future performance. Please take the time to read the full disclaimer here.

The post Readers’ Choice appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.

I’m collecting some info to test an idea I have about human behavior… this is fodder for a future article. Thanks. Happy New Year!

The post How much would you pay to fill up? appeared first on Alternative Energy Stocks.