Both a Conservative and a Green Investor? – Here’s a Portfolio for You (Part 3 of 4) Philips and Cree
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Are you a conservative investor who’d like to have a “green” portfolio but doesn’t want to take a chance on small companies with new technologies and business models that may or may not prove commercially viable? Then here’s a model portfolio for you. Call it the “conservatively green” portfolio. It features big-cap companies likely to play a crucial role in developing renewable energy, energy efficiency, emissions control equipment, and more, continuing with:
Philips Electronics and Cree Inc. Only one of these two innovative lighting products companies – Philips – fits the mold of a conservatively green investment. But every investor needs a degree of risk in his portfolio, and Cree looks like a risk probably worth taking.
This is all about light-emitting diode (LED) technology, soon to be the dominant lighting technology, supplanting incandescent and even compact flourescent lighting, because of its energy efficiency, low maintenance cost and relative environmental safety (i.e., no mercury disposal problem like with compact fluorescents).
Within five years or less, the market for LEDs may hit $3 billion, compared with $600 million in 2008, according to Merriman Curhan Ford, the investment banking firm. Within 10 to 20 years, the firm has also predicted, the LED market could total as much as $30 billion. (For more see 4 New Wall Street Forecasts: #1 - Market for LEDs for Illumination Could Hit $3 B in 3-5 Yrs. vs. $600 M in ‘08.)
Philips, along with General Electric, figures to be basking in this LED light, Philips maybe more so because of its recent acquisitions of a number of LED development firms, including Color Kinetics and Lumineds. One key company is still out there – Cree – which according to at least one technology analyst, has the best LED technology of the bunch. (For more see 20 to Watch in 2008 (#1) – Energy Efficient Lighting Manufacturer Cree Inc. Could Ride an LED Boom in 2008.)
Philips’ lighting products are part of a total package of energy-efficient products for homes and offices that should increasingly be in demand as power rates rise rapidly throughout the world. Cree already has a program, called “LED City,” through which a number of cities in the U.S., Italy and China are evaluating its products across “a full range of municipal infrastructure,” according to the company.
