Energy

8 Clean Energy Technology Companies Could Benefit From a Biden Presidency

Paul Ausick

Published: August 18, 2020 8:33 am

Last Updated: August 18, 2020 9:50 am

While presidential candidate Joe Biden’s plans for clean energy don’t reach the spending levels of the Green New Deal first proposed less than two years ago by some newly elected Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, spending totals remain impressive. The Biden plan calls for $2 trillion in spending on infrastructure over what he hopes is a first four-year term. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the authors of the Green New Deal, once estimated spending of $10 trillion.

Cleaner air and water benefit all Americans, but U.S. companies that provide the tools to do the job stand to see demand for their products rise. Right now, many of these companies are fully valued based on 12-month price targets and multiples based on expected earnings in 2021. So while most of these firms don’t pay dividends, growth is what they have to offer.

Here are six companies that have solid positions in the clean energy sector. All are based in the United States and compete against other international companies for clean energy products both domestically and internationally.

GE

One of America’s oldest energy companies, General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) makes both natural gas-fired and renewable-powered generators. The company’s Power segment has struggled in recent years due in large part to issues with the company’s natural gas-powered turbines. Neither the Power nor the Renewable Energy segment posted a profit in the second quarter, and revenue and new orders declined in both segments as well. The company makes wind turbines that are among the best in the world. GE simply needs to figure out how to market and sell them.

GE’s stock closed at $6.47 on Monday, in a 52-week range of $5.48 to 13.26. The price target on the stock is $7.75, implying an upside of about nearly 20% on a stock that traded more than 50% below its 52-week high. GE pays a dividend yield of 0.61% and shares traded Monday at around 18.5 times expected 2021 earnings.

First Solar

In 2019, First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) posted a 36% year-over-year revenue increase and an operating income gain of  600% to $279.5 million for the year. Net income, however, plunged from $144.3 million to a net loss of $114.9 million. The company recently has been able to find buyers for its big solar projects, and that has helped its cash flow significantly. Since 2012, the stock has not closed above $79.

Shares closed at $73.61 most recently, in a 52-week range of $28.47 to $78.54. The price target of $64.10 implies that the stock is overvalued. Still shares trade about 6% below the 52-week high, and the multiple based on expected 2021 earnings of 21 times is not way out of line.

SunPower

SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWR) has a market cap roughly one-quarter the size of First Solar, but that was by choice and not mismanagement. Where First Solar both builds solar modules and large solar farms, SunPower has chosen instead to develop its marketing and packaging of modules and inverters built by other companies. A partnership with sustainable energy financial services firm Hannon Armstrong called SunStrong Capital created a custom-built finance vehicle for SunPower’s products.

The company’s stock closed Monday at $11.48 and has a 52-week range of $4.03 to $15.57. Even though shares trade at around 26% below the 52-week high, they also trade 25% above any upside suggested by the share price. The company pays no dividend, and at the closing price does not project a meaningful multiple to 2021 expected earnings.

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This one may be in a league of its own. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) owns the lion’s share of electric vehicle sales in the United States, and its soaring stock price has been one of the big stories of the year. Next month, the company is hosting a Battery Day, at which Tesla is expected to discuss its goals for battery storage for renewably generated electricity. This kind of storage is a key part of Biden’s plan for the U.S. power sector

Tesla closed at $1,835.64 on Monday, after posting a new 52-week high of $1,845.86. The 52-week low is $211.00, and the consensus price target is $1,290.18. At the closing price, Tesla stock trades at nearly 30% above its price target, and its multiple to expected 2021 earnings is 118 times. The company does not pay a dividend.

Enphase Energy

Enphase Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: ENPH) makes devices known as microinverters that attach to each module of a solar panel and convert direct current to alternating current. The company also makes monitoring and control software for solar installations. As solar installations proliferate in the next decade, Enphase is expected to benefit from the expansion.

Shares closed Monday at $75.06, in a 52-week range of $17.18 to $76.75 and with a price target of $74.43. The stock trades very near its 52-week high and is fully valued based on its price target. The company pays no dividend, and the stock traded at a multiple of 45 to Enphase’s expected 2021 earnings.

SolarEdge Technologies

This is an Israel-based maker of direct current inverter systems for solar energy systems. SolarEdge Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: SEDG) is also involved in other solar industry segments, including lithium-ion cells and batteries and storage systems. SolarEdge actually performed somewhat better than Enphase in the second quarter on demand for its products from non-U.S. customers.

The stock closed at $219.33 on Monday. The 52-week range is $67.02 to $229.49 and the price target is $167.08. SolarEdge, too, has outrun its price target, by about 24%, while trading just 4% below its 52-week high. The company does not pay a dividend and the stock traded at about 45 times expected 2021 earnings.

Brookfield Renewable Partners

Bermuda-based yieldco Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE: BEP) owns and operates some 19 GW of renewable generating in all parts of the world. Some 7,900 MW of that generating capacity comes from hydroelectric dams, 5,200 MW from wind power, 2,500 MW from solar energy, 2,700 MW of pumped hydro and battery storage and 800 MW of distributed generation through its investment in TerraForm. While it is unlikely that new hydropower projects will be part of Biden’s plan, maintaining the hydroelectric plants and upgrading their connections to the grid are mentioned.

Shares closed Wednesday at $43.81, in a 52-week range of $24.05 to $46.13. The consensus price target is $35.63. At the current share price, Brookfield is overvalued by about 19%, but the firm’s dividend yield is 4.00% and the stock trades at a multiple of just 9.4 to its expected 2021 earnings.

NuScale Power

NuScale Power is not traded publicly but we include a word about it here because it offers a promising new nuclear power technology called small module reactor (SMR). Each NuScale SMR can generate 60 MW of electricity and up to 12 SMRs can be connected in a single facility to generate 720 MW of power. Construction firm Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) is NuScale’s majority and lead strategic investor. Biden’s clean energy plan draws attention specifically to “advanced nuclear reactors, that are smaller, safer, and more efficient at half the construction cost” of traditional nukes.