First of all, I just want to say that the market has been very hard to take the past month or two. What you need to remember, is that we are in it for the long haul. If you are an investor that thinks long-term, you should be drooling over all of the values out there in the market today. Even with an "economic slow down" here in the states, it really doesn't change the global growth stories of plenty of companies out there today.
For instance, Intel just reported today only 2 cents under estimates yet it is hammered in after hours. The market is overreacting and focusing on any negative news, without even considering a tomorrow. Now is the time to be concentrating on the future, a long term investor needs to be ready to buy at these moments, not panic like some many people tend to do.
That being said, my next long term pick is the carbon fiber producer Zoltek ( zolt ). This company is the leading producer of the carbon fibers that go into producing wind turbines, a growing source of green energy. This relatively small company (1.26 Billion Market Cap), has signed long term supply contracts with the top manufactures of wind turbines in the entire world! Gamesa Group of Spain , DeWind and the world's largest producer Vestas Wind System will be begin to be reflected in Zoltek's bottom line very soon.
In case you missed the figures wind energy is projected to grow at 25% per year worldwide, and I personally think this is a pretty conservative estimate. As I stated earlier with Evergreen Solar and Ormat Technologies , green energy is going to become the next multi-year bull market.
Zoltek is in one of the sweet spots, and appears to have a near monopoly on a key area of this growing trend. Their revenues have been growing at a very impressive rate and should only continue to do so with it's recent announcement that it had purchased the Guadalajara, Mexico-based Crysel Acrylic Fiber.
As if that weren't enough reason to own Zoltek, they also have the potential to be huge in the automotive market as their light weight carbon fiber could easily be used in the manufacturing of more fuel efficient vehicles. Think about it, the government is just beginning it's push to increase fuel standards, and as oil rises the process will only speed up.
Yeah the market is pretty bearish right now, but there is always plenty of companies to pick up on sale at this level. Always, don't buy all at once and focus long-term... as with all things, this will pass...
Original Source: http://stockpicky.blogspot.com/2008/01/fueling-winds-of-chang...
$36.35 (01/16/08)
