Published: May 18, 2009
The
correct answer is
(C.) Vestas Wind Systems (VWDRY)
Although Vestas ranks second to GE
in U.S. market share, it commands
19% of the global market. The
company, based in Denmark, built its
first wind turbine in 1979, marking
the birth of the modern wind
industry. Vestas is now the world's
largest supplier of wind energy
solutions and has installed more
than 35,500 wind turbines in 63
countries. Vestas had 2008 revenues
of 6.035 billion euros and net
earnings of 511 million euros.
Vestas sits at the heart of Barack
Obama's vision of a "green-collar"
economy that attempts to accomplish
two goals: Create jobs and decrease
our reliance on oil. "To accelerate
the creation of a clean-energy
economy," Mr. Obama said, "we will
double our capacity to generate
alternative sources of energy like
wind, solar, and biofuels over the
next three years."
This offers significant opportunity
for lots of alternative energy
ventures, but the American Wind
Energy Association, a trade group
that maintains an excellent
collection of alternative energy
data, shows that the United States
is already on its way to
accomplishing Mr. Obama's goals. To
boot, the U.S. Department of
Energy's recent "20% Wind Energy by
2030" report says that reaching the
goal is feasible and foresees 15% of
U.S. electricity produced via wind
power by 2020. This is phenomenal
news for investors, as only 1.25% of
U.S. power came from wind last year.
That means we will need tens of
thousands of megawatts of new
projects -- and quickly.
Wind turbines are going to be
selling like hotcakes for years, and
the companies that make them are
going to be raking in significant
profits. In fact, wind's financial
prospects are so bright that
billionaire tycoon T. Boone Pickens
(a lifelong oilman) has bold plans
to spend $58 million of his own
money on wind energy. All of this
bodes well for wind-related stocks
like Vestas. But the bigger lesson
here is that investors can find ways
to profit from the biggest financial
force on the planet--the U.S. and
other federal governments around the
world.
That's why StreetAuthority editor
Andy Obermueller has started the
Government-Driven Investing
newsletter, which helps investors
capitalize on government actions
around the world. To learn about
Andy's other picks, and to learn
more about Government-Driven
Investing,
please visit this link.
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