Interview with Tom Konrad

General

How long have you been blogging?

I joined AltEnergyStocks.com in 2007.

What got your started blogging?

I saw it as a way to promote my investment advisory business. I’ve since found that writing is much more personally rewarding than advising, so I have closed my advisory business to new clients.

What is the focus of your blog, i.e. how does it set you apart from the other bloggers out there?

We focus on publicly traded renewable energy, energy efficiency, and alternative energy companies, and we’ve been doing it longer than any other blog I know of with that focus. We often go into depth into single industries or companies.

What is it you hope a reader will come away with when they visit your blog?

I hope they’ll be able make more intelligent investments in Alternative Energy companies, and possibly put a bigger slice of their portfolio into the sector. I hope I’m doing my small part to make it easier for companies which are pioneering the transition to a post-carbon economy to raise the necessary funds. For readers who show up solely looking for hot stock tips, I hope that they may come away thinking a bit more about the moral aspects of investing.

Do you like to be edgy in your posts and try and stir up some controversy?

I don’t think it’s possible to be a good investor if you always agree with everyone. I say what I think, although it’s not a tactic to try to get readership. I do find that the articles in which I pan particular stocks tend to get more readership over longer periods of time, although they draw fewer readers to begin with.

If no…What do you think about bloggers who have this kind of approach?

It seems counterproductive in the context of investing. I don’t read any bloggers who use that approach. My goal is to give good information… I’d rather have one intelligent reader than five who are there for a cheap thrill.

About The Author

What would you like our readers to know about you?

I work as a consultant to organizations promoting clean energy through the utility regulatory process. I feel this helps my writing and investing because of deeper insights into the barriers to change in our energy infrastructure, and it also helps all of us by bringing about that change just a little bit faster. I’m an active volunteer in the clean energy activism community, and am currently the Policy Committee Chair of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society. I have completed all three Chartered Financial Analyst® exams (Here are my tips for CFA candidates,) and I have a Ph.D. in mathematics.

It’s your blog and you’ve invested so much time into it. Is there a personal connection in your writing to your end users, or do you strictly write what interests you?

I find that my writing makes me a better investor. I can’t think of everything, and some of my best ideas have come because of things my readers say about what I write. In the end I usually write about what interests me, but the ideas often come from readers.

In other words, if you find that your readers enjoy specific topics, does that influence what you write about?

Yes… a lot of readers come looking for a mutual fund in the sector, so I do a rundown of the available renewable energy mutual funds and ETFs a couple times a year. I also occasionally ask readers for specific stocks they’d like me to research.

Do you trade the markets? If so, when did you start to trade?

I started trading in 1997.

What is your favorite instrument to trade (stocks, options, forex, futures, bonds, etc.)

I use options on stocks and ETFs, as well as individual stocks.

What is your favorite strategy to trade?

Cash-covered puts and covered calls.

What time frame do you like to trade?

1-5 years.

For someone new coming into the markets, what steps would you recommend they use to get started?

Keep careful records of your trades and why you made them. Memory is a tricky thing, and if you don’t have good records, you are liable to give yourself too much credit for your successes, and not enough blame for your mistakes.

What is the biggest stumbling block you see for most beginner traders, i.e. where do you see them making the biggest mistakes?

Especially in Alternative Energy, there is a tendency to get too excited about technology and not pay enough attention to business fundamentals such as earnings and cash flow.

In today’s trading environment, where do you see the biggest opportunities for traders?

There are a lot of relatively mispriced securities out there, and many companies with stable cash flows and earnings have become under-priced. I think that energy efficiency companies will be especially well placed both because of the Obama administrations commitment to clean energy, and also because energy efficiency can seem more compelling to companies looking to cut overhead and improve margins.

What do you see in store for the markets in 09? If a turnaround, when do you see that happening?

Probably not this year.

If not a turnaround in 09, why not?

This financial crisis has changed the nature of the game. We’re not going to go back to a world where credit underwriting was a joke, people could buy houses with negative amortization mortgages with no money down, and everyone was pursuing some variation of the carry trade. The credit crunch has destroyed the attitudes which made the previous euphoric period possible. We’re still coming to terms with that.

If not a turnaround in 09, when?

I think it will take 3-5 years to reach the final bottom, although there will be several ups and downs along the way.

Do you use technical analysis?

Not usually.

If yes, what are your favorite technical indicators?

I like the VIX.

Interview with Peterson

General

How long have you been blogging?

Since July 2008

What got your started blogging?

The business slowdown caused by the coming recession gave me a good deal of free time and blogging seemed like a smart way to raise our professional profile and possibly attract new clients.

What is the focus of your blog, i.e. how does it set you apart from the other bloggers out there?

The sole focus of my blogging is manufactured energy storage devices. This market niche has been the redheaded stepchild of the alternative energy sector for years in spit of the fact that energy storage is a fundamental enabling technology that makes alternative energy solutions work better and more profitably. It’s also a sector where the level of hype, hope and misinformation is massive.

What is it you hope a reader will come away with when they visit your blog?

I hope a reader will come away with a better understanding of the factors that separate real energy storage solutions that can be economically implemented today from the wishful thinking of the rainbow stew crowd who believe in benefits without associated costs.

Do you like to be edgy in your posts and try and stir up some controversy?

I don’t try to be edgy, but talking about the current economics of batteries and other storage devices invariably offends the sensibilities of readers who want to focus on the dream rather than the reality.

About The Author

What would you like our readers to know about you?

I’m a lawyer and former CPA with 30 years in the harness representing small public companies. I learned about the storage sector during a five-year stint as a director of and legal counsel for Axion Power International (AXPW). Since I still have a big position in Axion, I’m not a disinterested observer, but I try to give credit where credit is due because I believe the entire sector will do very well over the next two decades.

It’s your blog and you’ve invested so much time into it. Is there a personal connection in your writing to your end users, or do you strictly write what interests you?

Most of the topics I write on come from reader comments and questions. The sector interests me but the individual topics almost always come from reader questions.

Trading

Do you trade the markets? If so, when did you start to trade?

Because of the nature of my work and clientele, I typically buy stock early in a company’s corporate lifecycle and then sell several years later when I think the company has matured to a good exit point.

What time frame do you like to trade?

For someone new coming into the markets, what steps would you recommend they use to get started?

What is the biggest stumbling block you see for most beginner traders, i.e. where do you see them making the biggest mistakes?

In today’s trading environment, where do you see the biggest opportunities for traders?

What do you see in store for the markets in 09? If a turnaround, when do you see that happening?

My practice is actually a leading indicator for the economy as a whole. Our phones fell deathly quiet in December of 2007 and the market collapsed about 9 months later. We are just beginning to see an increase in the rate of calls from new potential clients. So if things hold true to form, I would expect a turnaround to be visible to the general market in late 2009.

Interview with Charles Morand

General Questions

How long have you been blogging?

2.5 years

What got your started blogging?

Interest in alternative energy and the alternative energy stocks; Desire to write

What is the focus of your blog, i.e. how does it set you apart from the other bloggers out there?

Our focus is largely (>80%) on alternative energy stocks. From time to we will feature articles on mutual funds/ETFs or options. What sets us apart from other blogs is our industry focus, from which we rarely stray.

What is it you hope a reader will come away with when they visit your blog?

My hope is that readers will come away convinced that alternative energy (defined broadly to include areas such as energy efficiency, energy storage and a better power grid) is fast becoming a mainstream affair and not only the purview of risk-seekers. I hope to make the case that the long-term investment opportunities in this industry will transcend economic and market cycles, and that all categories of investors can profit from what I would qualify as a secular growth story. Lastly, I wish for my regular readers to come away with new investment ideas at least 50% of the time.

Do you like to be edgy in your posts and try and stir up some controversy?

No

If no…What do you think about bloggers who have this kind of approach?

I very much appreciate bloggers who can do this well. However, in my view, few investment bloggers can do this well and come off as credible and knowledgeable (and end up being right!). Going against the heard takes courage; going against the heard and being right takes true talent. I don’t consider myself talented enough.

About The Author

What would you like our readers to know about you?

For having worked in this field for the better part of my short professional life and for having done a good bit of my schooling in it, I believe I have a pretty solid knowledge base in the alternative energy industry. I have a particular inclination for wind power, renewable energy project developers and the carbon markets. I hold an MSc in Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business (Uni. Of Western Ontario). I am a CFA candidate.

It’s your blog and you’ve invested so much time into it. Is there a personal connection in your writing to your end users, or do you strictly write what interests you?

A bit of both. I will mostly write about what I know, which happens to be what interests me. If readers ask me to write about something I know, I try to.

In other words, if you find that your readers enjoy specific topics, does that influence what you write about?

Yes.

If You Trade. Do you trade the markets? If so, when did you start to trade?

Yes. In 2001.

What is your favorite instrument to trade (stocks, options, forex, futures, bonds, etc.)

Stocks.

What is your favorite strategy to trade?

Buy-and-hold with a 1 yr+ time horizon, generally with a value leaning. When market sentiment is very positive, I also like short-term trades in speculative stocks based on good “stories” that might act as catalysts for large price swings.

What time frame do you like to trade?

Typically 1 yr+

For someone new coming into the markets, what steps would you recommend they use to get started?

1. Read about investing and talk to people with expertise to truly understand their investor profile. Do they like the thrill of day trading? Are they more into finding fundamentally good stocks and prepared to wait however long it takes? Can they stomach large decreases in the value of their portfolios? Following this, determine what the appropriate asset mix would be based on personality – there are tomes written on this but a Google search can generally yield sufficient info.
2. If they do decide to become active, start with small amounts of money and test out their views on the market. Analyze good trades and bad. For a good trade, were they right or just lucky? For a bad trade, what did they miss in their analysis? Don’t lose interest because of a few bad trades – use them to learn what to do right next time.
3. Always get a second opinion and do some homework. Never take something they hear or read on a blog, newsletter or TV and do a trade without doing research first. It thus follows that people only ever have themselves to blame for a bad trade – if someone pushed a bad stock and they bought it without due diligence, they are the guilty party.

What is the biggest stumbling block you see for most beginner traders, i.e. where do you see them making the biggest mistakes?

Confusing luck with talent. A lifting tide lifts all boats, and a surging market lifts a lot of bad stocks. Again, the trick is to analyze trades to determine what was done right and was done wrong (or could have been done ever better if the trade turned out right).

In today’s trading environment, where do you see the biggest opportunities for traders?

Given my style as an investor and my narrow focus on one industry, I can’t recommend anything outside of alternative energy. In alternative energy, certain large cap diversified companies with exposure to one or more areas of alternative energy are currently cheap by historical standards. Alternatively, the pure-play ETFs are down significantly and may represent good opportunities, although my timeline here would be 18 months+.

What do you see in store for the markets in 09?

At the earliest late Q3 2009, although I expect a slow grind back up and not a sudden surge. I believe by then few of the bulls of the by-gone era of cheap credit will still be alive (figuratively).