Investing Daily

A few weeks ago, Roger Conrad, Elliott Gue and I attended the annual San Francisco MoneyShow. We always enjoy our time in San Francisco, though presentations, discussion panels and informal conversations with subscribers usually keep us at the conference until dinner.

This year’s show focused on Green Technology, and I was fortunate enough to moderate a Green Tech panel that included a senior IT analyst from Standard and Poor’s, the founder of the first alternative energy mutual fund and chief analyst at Greentech Media.

Not surprisingly, the S&P analyst focused primarily on large-cap stocks, labeling Google (NSDQ: GOOG) a GreenTech play because it’s always looking for ways to conserve energy and invests in small technology outfits that are pioneering emerging technology solutions to current challenges. I buy that reasoning up to a point.

With the exception of me, everyone on the panel was bullish on solar energy’s prospects over the next several years. I regard wind and energy storage as bigger stories in the US and abroad. Plus, solar stocks appear to be overheated and will struggle to sustain current valuations, let alone any additional premium.

I also did a presentation on C4ISR (command, control, communications, computing, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) and another on the emergence of what we term New World 3.0, or NW3, a powerful investment story that will play out over the next decade.

Mapping NW3 involves looking at the world of today with an eye to the future. Entire industries that have dominated the competitive landscape are struggling for relevance, while new insurgent businesses are gaining momentum and disrupting the status quo. The goal of NW3 is to embrace these changes, not to shrink from them. In this space, we identify investment opportunities that are emerge as much of the world rethinks, retools and rebuilds its industries and technologies.

For those interested in my current take on how this brave new world is shaping up, I’ve included a link to the presentation I delivered in San Francisco. The slides are generally self-explanatory, and there are plenty of stock recommendations to keep you busy. Plus, you don’t actually have to hear me talk.

If you want to throw your own two cents in on what’s going on in the New World, join us at blog, At These Levels, where I regularly share my thoughts on many of the emerging tech/nanotech/defense tech stocks that I feature in this forum.

And don’t forget to check out our videos on the MoneyShow website. See you in the future!