The government is pouring billions into the technology. Cisco CEO John Chambers said it will be bigger than the internet. The opportunity for investors is indeed big and now there’s a diversified way to play “it” – the smart grid revolution.

There are quite a few useless and overlapping ETF’s out there and this industry is in need of a major shakeout, but every once in awhile a great ETF comes along and the First Trust/Clean Edge Smart Grid ETF (GRID) is no exception. The ETF aims to track the NASDAQ OMX Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index and is a modified market cap weighted index which includes companies that are primarily engaged in all components of the smart grid – from the meters, to the network, to energy storage to software.

Whatever credibility Dick Bove of Rochdale Securities has left can now be thrown out the window. It won’t matter at CNBC or Fox Business though, because for some reason he’s considered a guru analyst in the financial sector. Following Wells Fargo’s (WFC) earnings yesterday morning, he was on CNBC with the following comments before the market opened.

At the beginning of the segment he said Wells Fargo “has its loan losses under control” and that they “should be able to grow revenues by increasing loan volumes”. At the 1:20 mark he said Wells Fargo was one of the three financial companies that “should do well in the market today and lift all financial stocks.” To close out his thoughts on the financials, he called Wells Fargo a “standout” with those earnings numbers.

Everybody is talking about the U.S. dollar and how low it can go, about gold and how high it can go and most of all the market. Just when will a major correction take place in this market?

Of course there are no certainties in the market, but good technical analysis can give you probabilities and steer you in the direction of greater odds of success. Adam Hewison of Market Club just released a new video yesterday taking a look at the U.S. Dollar, Gold and the S&P500. I have to agree with all the analysis in the video. You might be surprised to see the gold estimates and just how far the S&P could correct.

<< Read Top IPOs of 2009, Part I

Please note that these are not ranked solely on performance, but rather on fundamentals such as earnings and sales growth, ROE and margins. No, this is not an extremely scientific ranking. You data junkies can crunch the numbers and run through your algorithms elsewhere

The first half of 2009 brought us some memorable IPOs, but for the most part it was forgettable. As we approach the final quarter of the year with a flurry of IPOs expected to price in the coming days, I thought I’d rank what I think are the top IPOs of 2009. Please note that these are not ranked solely on performance, but rather on fundamentals such as earnings and sales growth, ROE and margins. No, this is not an extremely scientific ranking. You data junkies can crunch the numbers and run through your algorithms elsewhere.

1. Bridgepoint Education (BPI): Since turning its first yearly profit in 2007, this provider of online education to over 30K students has been on a tear. In 2008, its EPS rocketed to .51/share vs just .06/share the year before and here in 2009 it’s expected to double to a little over a buck a share. Sales growth has been equally impressive with quarter over quarter growth in the last 4 quarters of 183%, 175%, 163% and 127%. Technically, it’s in the process of carving out a new base after more than doubling from opening day. Get more BPI analysis here.

The Cash For Clunkers program has been wildly successful, burning through the initial $1 billion allocated to the program within a couple weeks. Harry Reid has said that the Senate will OK another $2 billion before the August recess. The obvious beneficiaries are the auto makers and auto parts suppliers, but one pure play may be overlooked and that’s LKQ Corp (LKQX), which is the largest auto parts recycler in the nation with 280 facilities.

What happens when a clunker is exchanged for a new vehicle? It’s not as easy as reselling as a used vehicle which the program prohibits. The dealer is required to kill the engine and destroy the vehicle. The vehicle may be parted out (as long as it’s not the engine or drivetrain), but parts must be sold within 180 days. LKQ has setup a program to make that process relatively painless.

That was some reversal in First Solar (FSLR) on Thursday after hours! The stock ran up to over $190 following the headline results of the quarter in which the company absolutely destroyed estimates, but reversed sharply after the company revealed pricing pressure and financing constraints in Germany. (Call Transcript)

Frankly, I don’t understand the magnitude of the reversal after hours with the stock now down about 4% from the close. Granted, Germany is an important market, but the company didn’t change its revenue and gross margin guidance for 2009 and is sticking with $1.9 – 2 billion and 31 – 33% respectively.

Amazon (AMZN) made a terrific move after the bell yesterday, making its largest purchase ever. It’s acquiring Zappos.com for about $890 million in stock (based on Wednesday’s closing price) plus another $40 million in restricted stock and cash. Zappos.com is the leading online shoe retailer that did a billion bucks in revenue last year and continues to grow at an exceptional pace despite a slow economy.

Considering the kind of valuations that are placed on the likes of Facebook and other social media sites that have trouble monetizing, $930 million looks like a good deal for Amazon. As for Zappos.com, you have to wonder why the company didn’t attempt the IPO route with the market improving. If the margins are thin at Zappos then perhaps this is a better deal for them... we shall see. It will be interesting to see a breakdown of the financials of Zappos.com in future earnings reports of Amazon.

By Guest Author: Robert Williams, PhD, P.E.

This oil and gas industry perspective highlights only US-quoted drilling companies that provide offshore drilling activities in the ongoing search for that elusive black gold. There are a staggering number of different types of drilling rigs in operation around the globe and this summary is only for major US companies and does not include the independent drillers. Other UK, Norwegian, Danish, Japanese and many other countries have similar quantities of drilling rigs in operation on a global basis.

Pollution from automobiles is a rampant problem in developed societies around the world, and as emerging economies such as China and India become more prosperous, a larger percentage of the population is able to afford personal transportation. This might lead the environmentally conscious to worry about an immense explosion in the number of cars on the road –and indeed, the number is rising.

But unlike many western societies where the standard of personal transportation rests firmly in cars, trucks, and other gas or diesel-based automobiles, not every nation is closed off to greener ideas. China, in particular, has been experiencing a widespread increase in per capita income, but rather than focusing on a nationwide boom in car sales, recent news in transportation from China has centered around the spectacular rise in the use of electric bikes.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could charge your cell phone just by setting it out in the sun? As long as the sun was shining, you’d never have to worry about forgetting your charger and running out of juice!

This month, Samsung is releasing a new cell phone called the Crest Solar. As the name suggests, the Crest Solar is equipped with a small solar panel to help charge the phone. So, will the sun power your next cell phone? Probably not…we still have a ways to go before solar power can be efficiently harnessed to power a phone. In fact, the Crest Solar is primarily powered by a regular cell phone battery. The small solar panel on the back of the phone can charge the battery, but only provides about 5 to 10 minutes of talk time for each hour it spends in the sun, according to a press release Samsung put out about the product.

The growth in China over the past 10 years or so has been staggering and despite a global economic crisis, the economy is still growing around 6% (so they say). With an attitude of growth at any cost and a mass migration to China cities, you have to assume that water pollution and scarcity could very well choke the economy in the coming years.

Guo Youzhi, general secretary of the China Desalination Association, said that only 20 percent of industrial wastewater in the country is efficiently re-utilized and 80 percent is being simply discharged.

By Guest Author: Robert Williams, PhD, P.E.

There are many companies involved in all aspects of the oil/gas industries but very few gain a significant market dominance. Some achieve this by acquisitions of various significant companies. Referring back to the last oil/gas industry perspective re: automation companies, an example of such acquisition is Emerson Process Control acquiring Rosemount instrumentation which has extensive, and in some cases, an exclusive market within the industry. Similarly, with the two companies listed in this industry perspective. Their corporate history is too diverse to elaborate on in this brief article and hyperlinks are provided to their individual websites at each company name.

Valence Technology (VLNC) and S&C Electric Company announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, agreeing to work together to develop and evaluate products for stationary grid-connected electrical energy storage systems.

Jim Sember, Vice President of S&C’s Power Quality Products Division, said, “Renewable energy sources like wind and solar introduce ongoing and unpredictable power variations. The incredibly fast response of advanced battery storage systems allow for compensation of these fluctuations at a level not possible with today’s fossil generation plants.”

Last week, Lazard Capital and Collins Stewart upgraded and maintained their Buy ratings on Yingli Green Energy (YGE). Today, it’s Piper Jaffray’s turn. The firm reiterates its Buy rating on Yingli and is raising the price target from $13 to $17.

Comments from Piper according to StreetInsider.com:

Itron (ITRI) is announcing today that Columbia Gas of Ohio is going to deploy its smart metering technology across 1.4 million gas meters over the course of the next 5 years. Columbia Gas will deploy the 40GB Gas ERT modules and may implement the larger 100G series modules in selected areas which would allow for more frequent metering data collection.

“We’ve experienced success over the years with Itron solutions, and have come to rely on their expertise in the field of automated meter reading,” said Columbia Gas of Ohio’s director of Customer Programs, Lisa Carmean. “This next step in our collaboration is integral to our strategy to enhance customer service and maximize operating efficiency.”

Sina.com (SINA) is China’s largest internet portal with over 200 million registered users across not only China but Taiwan, Hong Kong, North America. The company continues to post outstanding growth each quarter despite a slumping global economy and beginning to tap into the trend of user generated content with the launch of SINA Blog and SINA Podcasting. Considering that collectively, Chinese internet users spend more than 10x the amount of time online as US users do, that’s a whole lot of user generated content and potential ad revenue.

What stands out to me in terms of its financials is the fact the company has been posting accelerating quarter over quarter revenue growth over the past two years. Ok, well not quite .. in the last quarter the company reported revenue growth of 44% vs the previous quarter growth of 64% so the streak has stopped, but still mighty impressive growth. Quarter over quarter earnings growth is equally as impressive over the past 8 quarters with growth of 19%, 29%, 28%, 31%, 74%, 59%, 38% and 44%. The company will report its 1Q 2009 results within the next couple weeks.

Originally published on author's site on May 27, 2009.

Prez Obama spoke at Nellis Air Force base today discussing the importance of renewable energy and announcing funding efforts for solar and geothermal. Nellis Air Force base is home to the largest solar installation in the Western hemisphere and provides 25% of the electricity for the 12000 who live and work at the base, saving the military about $1 million a year.

By Guest Author: Robert Williams, PhD, P.E.

The thrust of this industry perspective is to identify system supplier companies active in oil / gas process plants and to highlight their future earnings and charts for potential investment by our readers. The companies listed below are all international conglomerates that also provide process control systems for all the other industries as well. Therefore, their potential earnings are more dependent on the global economy rather than the oil / gas industry in particular.

Everyone wants to know.. how long can the rally last. It’s the same question that was being asked on the other side just one month ago. How low can we go and for how long? The market always seems to remain irrational longer than you think it will and that has certainly played out over the first quarter here in 2009.

To help answer these questions, I always turn to the charts to gauge areas of support/resistance as well institutional demand. Admittedly, technical analysis has been considerably difficult in an environment of rumors, manipulation, intervention and extreme levels of fear and greed, but what it does and will always do well is provide an x-ray into the health or weakness of the market. In general, slices through support and weakness at resistance indicates a deteriorating market while surges above resistance and at support indicate good market strength.