Randy, lets forget about Amzn and talk about alternative energy stocks. California will be having a lack of energy meltdown.
It's scaring silicon valley so us venture capital types are moving in.
>Nth Power's earlier Fund I has holdings in Capstone Turbine Corporation (Nasdaq: CPST), which had a successful Initial Public Offering on June 29, 2000, and continues to perform well.
Message 13982365
>NEW YORK, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Energy companies are powering their way into the new-issues market as Wall Street sees money to be made off of the skyrocketing electricity and oil prices.
Investors are already homing in on companies that power the booming digital economy. Indeed, shares of O2Micro International Ltd. <OIIM.O>, which helps laptop computers, cell phones and other devices run longer on battery power, more than doubled from their $9 offering price in their first trading day last week.
Active Power Inc. <ACPW.O>, whose products are sold to Internet service providers, semiconductor makers and others who need reliable backup power, closed at 47-3/4 on Friday, almost three times its $17 offering price in early August. Power generator company Capstone Turbine Corp. <CPST.O>, which priced its shares at $16 each in late June, closed at $82 on Friday.
"I see no sign of it letting up, the demand on electricity is just going to go up as people continue to move to areas that are going to require more air conditioning and buy more and more devices," said Kenan Pollack, money editor at Hoover's Online.
Energy companies that have long been public are also seeing their shares swell as consumers pay eye-popping bills. AES Corp. <AES.N>, Calpine Corp. <CPN.N>, NRG Energy Inc. <NRG.N>, Exxon Mobil Corp. <XOM.N> and Schlumberger Ltd. <SLB.N> are all trading near their one-year highs.
"There will be more and more energy companies going public, because the country needs more power and Wall Street is going to support companies that are going to deliver that power," said Fred Mutalibov, energy analyst at Southwest Securities.
Indeed, some San Diego consumers have seen their monthly electricity bills triple in recent months as a result of a supply shortage in California, which drove wholesale prices sharply higher. Since California's electricity market was restructured two years ago, power suppliers have not built the new generating facilities that were expected.
"That brings favorable dynamics to the power-generation industry when demand by far outstrips supply," Mutalibov said.
Private power companies are already filing their plans for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission amid the rosy investor sentiment. TNPC Inc., formed by Enron Corp. <ENE.N> to target the rapidly restructuring residential and small commercial markets for electricity and natural gas, could net $370 million in proceeds from its initial public offering first filed in July.
Orion Power Holdings Inc., which has spent $3 billion acquiring power plants over the past two years, filed its plan for an initial public offering in mid-August. Orion, which did not disclose the terms for the offering, plans to use the proceeds for additional power plant acquisitions.
Oil services companies are following suit as the oil market is buoyed by falls in U.S. stockpiles of crude close to 24-year lows. The Saudi-dominated Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has continued to curb production, raising concerns that the northern hemisphere countries may face a shortfall of heating oil this winter.
Energy Partners Ltd., an oil and natural gas exploration and production company, filed in early August to raise about $125 million in an initial public offering. Westport Resources Corp., an energy company that explores for oil and natural gas, filed in late June to raise as much as $100 million.
Hydril Co., which makes tube connectors and pressure control products for oil and gas drilling and production, said in late July that it hopes to sell 7.5 million shares in a price range of $14 to $18 each.
"Investors have been getting increasingly interested in oil services companies for the last 18 months," said James Stone, an analyst at PaineWebber. "This has been one of the best performing sectors of the stock market...and continues to be a place where people are putting their money to work."
This week, no companies are scheduled to begin trading as the new-issues market continues its slumber ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
13:44 08-27-00
>NEW YORK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Capstone Turbine Corp. <CPST.O> Chief Executive Ake Almgren said his company's microturbines could immediately ease the power shortages plaguing parts of the U.S.
"Traditional utilities can no longer provide the reliability required by high technology, Internet, telecommunications and computer companies...that have driven this economy to its longest period of growth ever," Almgren told Reuters in an interview Wednesday.
While Almgren was speaking about the benefits of distributed power generation and the important role he believes the microturbine will play in that electricity revolution, Capstone's stock soared 16 percent to a record high.
He could not, however, say for certain what caused the stock to jump on Wednesday, but pointed to Cincinnati-based utility Cinergy Corp.'s <CIN.N> decision to buy 52 Capstone microturbines for $1.5 million, announced earlier in the week.
Capstone, whose stock has more than quadrupled since its initial public offering in June, was the first company to offer commercial power products using low-emission microturbine technology.
Distributed power generation, which Almgren said will likely produce 10 percent to 20 percent of the nation's electricity by 2010, is the production of power at or near the site where it is consumed, thereby limiting a customer's reliance on the bulk power grid.
Distributed power generators include everything from a 30-kilowatt (kw) microturbine at a McDonald's restaurant to a 1,000-megawatt combined-cycle generating facility adjacent to an aluminum factory.
"A microturbine is a highly reliable generator of electricity that produces very little emissions and requires very little maintenance," Almgren said.
Capstone microturbines are small electric generators -- one $25,000 unit produces 30 kw of electricity, enough to power a small business. The 30 kw units could be "tied" together in packs of 10 or more for up to 500 kw of generation.
The average home uses about five kilowatts of electricity, so a microturbine is not now the most efficient solution for the home.
"For now we're concentrating on the commercial and government consumer....Maybe someday we'll look at residential uses, but that's not our focus today," Almgren said.
For small businesses, "the microturbine is the perfect solution. We can ship it in four to six weeks. It requires very little maintenance and nothing more than a fuel source.... Natural gas is the cleanest and most efficient fuel available," Almgren said.
Small businesses, which would most likely continue to buy most of their power from the bulk power system, could use the microturbine during energy shortages when traditional utilities are having trouble supplying everyone's needs.
Microturbines can also be used to shave the peaks. As the electric industry becomes more advanced, utilities will charge customers for power by the hour with peak (day-time) hours costing more than off-peak (night-time) hours.
For larger, high technology companies that require a reliable power source, microturbines could guarantee the non-stop supply of energy a traditional utility can no longer guarantee.
Capstone's growth has been phenomenal. In 1998, the Chatswoth, Calif.-based company shipped just two microturbines. Those sales grew to 212 units in 1999 and 337 units for the first half of 2000.
Wall Street has taken notice. Energy analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial forecast that Capstone will become profitable in 2002.
On Wednesday, Capstone rose 11 to close at a record 78.25 on the Nasdaq, more than four times above its initial public offering price of 16 on June 29. |
