Investing in Green Stocks

I was fortunate that one of my earliest investments was a bust.

I'm serious.

It was 1993, and I didn't have a lot of money.

I was working a night shift at a credit reporting facility in Atlanta, running around a tape library for 12 hours a night, fetching and monitoring credit reports.

It was insanely boring, but the night shift paid more — allowing me to have just a few extra dollars to invest every month.

Admittedly, it was an exciting time. The promise of doubling and tripling my money got my juices flowing.

But my inexperience and unrestrained enthusiasm also led to some bad investment decisions.

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Like many young investors, I got emotional. I wanted to invest in companies that I believed in. Companies that were doing things that I understood and could support.

I was so religious about it that I allowed my emotional connection with these companies to trump basic logic.

The result was an investment that nearly wiped out my small but growing portfolio.

It was an environmental remediation company that I bought on a dip. And in all fairness, management had some serious green credibility. But the stock was a dog.

I won't get into the dozen or so reasons this stock never had a chance... But I will tell you that this company simply had a business that could not possibly succeed — no matter how exciting its technology was.

After about a year or so, I sold it for an 87% loss.

Brutal!

But a very valuable lesson was learned. And it's one that I have never repeated.

Admittedly, I still only invest in companies I understand and support. But coupled with aggressive due diligence, this has allowed me to make a lot of money — and help thousands of others make a lot of money — in alternative energy and organic and natural food stocks.

And that's why I'm writing this article today.

Given the continued uncertainty of the broader market, I know a lot of folks are either losing money, or they're simply too shell shocked to jump back in.

The latter decision is not something I can completely disagree with, either.

That being said, there are still opportunities out there for Green Chip investors. And if you're willing to get a little more aggressive during these tough times, you can actually come out of this continued economic downturn with a few bucks in your pocket.

"If a business does well, the stock eventually follows... "

While we remain bullish on the long-term potential of alternative energy (if you need a reason, look no further than this), there is no doubt that the remainder of 2010 will be a tough one.

And the bottom line is that the most money being made right now in alternative energy is being made by those who are loading up after those big dips, and cashing out when they spike.

The question is, How do you know which of these alternative energy stocks to play this way?

After all, not all of these dips are followed up by quick pops..

As Warren Buffett once said: “If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.”

It seems like every few weeks now, we have another opportunity to scoop up cheap shares of any number of green chip stocks. Solar, wind, geothermal — you name it.

But only those companies that are doing well — or that are on the verge of doing well, and have the data to back up that claim — are the ones that always come through for us.

So here's a list of our top seven green stocks to pick up the next time they slide with the rest of the broader market...

• Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL)
• JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO)
• First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR)
• Ormat Technologies (NYSE: ORA)
• EnerNOC (NASDAQ: ENOC)
• Itron (NASDAQ: ITRI)
• Hain Celestial (NASDAQ: HAIN)

These are all pretty solid plays that don't typically have a problem bouncing back after major market slides.

In other words, these are the business that are doing well.

As an added bonus (if this is important to you), all of these companies are helping to enable a cleaner and more sustainable energy economy.

Not a bad deal.

To a new way of life, and a new generation of wealth...

Jeff

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