A cleantech correction, or just profit-taking?
Red Herring has a story, based on data from London research firm New Energy Finance, that ponders whether a downturn in cleantech stock prices in the second quarter of this year represents a correction of an “overheating” sector or simply reflects the desire by some investors to enjoy a bit of profit-taking, given the stellar rise we have seen in cleantech stock. New Energy CEO Michael Liebreich says in the article that the nearly 25 per cent decline in the clean-energy stocks it tracks is partly the result of a general market decline. He pointed to the fact that the Nasdaq Stock Market fell 7 per cent during the same period, and that investors couldn’t resist a bit of profit-taking. “Finally, there were concerns that some companies, especially in the solar sector, were overvalued, as well as the crash in carbon prices in Europe,” the magazine said.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca