I don't know about you, but I'm starting to forget what
life was like before the Internet.
I can't even remember the last time I called a travel
agent instead of just logging onto
priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN), or looked up a
stock quote in a newspaper instead of on
Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) Finance.
In a lot of ways, that's sad. But it's also incredible to
think that a technology that evolved out of the U.S.
government's reaction to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik
has come to dominate our lives.
Even more incredibly ...
Investors who foresaw how profoundly the Internet would
change our world have been able to make an absolute fortune
from it.
Take those who understood the potential of e-commerce, for
example. Most people scoffed at the idea of buying retail
goods "online," but early investors in
Amazon.com have grown their money by as much
as 5,400%.
Needless to say, the Internet revolution turned out to be
an unprecedented source of wealth. That's why I was blown
away when I read that a well-respected venture capitalist now
sees a megatrend on the horizon that he says could be ...
"Bigger than the Internet by an order of
magnitude"
In case you're unaware, an order of magnitude is a
multiple of 10.
That's right. Venture capitalist Ray Lane recently told
The Wall Street Journalthat he has found something
he thinks could be
10 times as big as the Internet. And he would
know.
After all, he's a partner at the famed venture capital
firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which has made a
killing on everything from
Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) to
Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU). Not to mention, he was
an early backer of
Google , Amazon, and Netscape.
And he's not the only one who's taking
notice
Fidelity Magellan manager Harry Lange
outlined several reasons why his fund has begun to focus more
on "cleantech" in general, and on solar energy in
particular.
The next great bull market?
All of these factors contributed to Wall Street's love
affair with solar energy back in 2007:
Stock
Gain in 2007
Suntech Power
142%
SunPower
251%
First Solar
795%
In fact, by the end of 2007, it looked as though Ray Lane
might actually be understating the case. But then 2008 hit,
and the market began selling off steadily, before heading
into an all-out tailspin. The solar sector was particularly
hard hit, and while those who snapped up shares at the March
lows have been handsomely rewarded, long-term shareholders
have been crushed.
Stock
2007/2008 High
2009 Low
Current Price
JA Solar
$25.74
$1.90
$3.98
Canadian Solar
$51.00
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