From Hard Assets Investor:
Despite the flurry of alt-energy ETFs launched lately, most options for alternative fuel investing are still the individual companies, which tend to be high-risk, small- to medium-cap firms.
In some ways, this isn't so bad. Take the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE Arca: PBW), the PowerShares CleanTech Portfolio (NYSE Arca: PZD) and the First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green ETF (NASDAQ: QCLN).
These three ETFs - which straddle the range of small- to large-cap funds - have performed reasonably well this year (they're up between 20-25%), but they still lag the stock market as a whole. In part, they've been dragged down by under-performing sectors like solar: First Solar, a $10 billion solar power leader, has dropped 9% year-to-date, while Evergreen Solar, a smaller provider, has plunged 41%.
But the story could not be more different for synthetic fuel makers. Synthesis Energy Systems (NASDAQ: SYMX), which uses gasification technology to convert coal and coal waste into clean transportation fuels, has surged 79% year-to-date. Rentech (AMEX: RTK) has skyrocketed 240%, after recently…
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