Why Citibank, With an 8% Yield, is a Bargain

Citigroup - The largest bank in the U.S. has lost 45% of its value this year so far.  The company said it plans on continuing to pay the dividend, which currently yields 6.2%.

(When I think of Citigroup, it reminds me of a conversation I had with Teeka Tiwari at the 2002 stock market bottom.  We were picking each others' brains, looking for the best stock ideas for our clients, and he said, "Chris, you've gotta own JP Morgan here.  It has the same 7% yield as the corporate notes you've been buying, but you have all the upside that the stock gives you as well.")

By now you've probably heard that Vikram S. Pandit was named CEO and Win Bischoff chairman after Charles O. Prince III resigned from both positions last month after announcing over $18 billion in write-downs.  The announcement of Pandit's taking the position of chief executive sent the stock down another 7% yesterday to $30.85.  So why doesn't the Street like the new management?  Because Pandit has never run a public company in his life, and Bischoff has little experience in operating a consumer bank.  These are the people responsible for overseeing a bank with an extremely diversified model, and obviously, the Street is dreading the next piece of negative news about the mortgage crisis and how it will be addressed in 2008.

Three questions:

1. What is your time horizon?
2. What does Citigroup look like technically?
3. Do you like to buy when the stock is up and looking great, down and looking terrible, or down, but showing improvement after several signs that confirm a bottom?  (I like the latter.)

Let's consider the technical picture.

First of all, what do you think of the market as a whole?  Well, the breadth indicators that I respect so much show an oversold market in a bullish position.  The external picture shows warning signs that I also have to respect.  So I have both bullish and bearish positions while I am slightly slanted toward the bullish side.

The bank sector is way oversold where the breadth indicators are down at levels not seen since late 2002.  So the general market, as well as the bank sector, are both oversold in terms of breadth, and starting to pick up upside momentum. 

Citigroup is what we call a "story stock".  It's in the paper or on television every other day.  The story is obviously the mortgage crisis and the new management.  Since the most emotional investment for most people is the in their home (where they live, eat, sleep, raise their children), the mortgage crisis becomes one of the most emotional stock market stories possible.  Everyone is affected.

Anyway, let's look at this technically, using the MACD and RSI.

Below is a 20-year daily chart of Citigroup.  When the RSI is below 30, it's a signal that the stock is oversold.  When it reverses back above 30, it's an RSI buy signal.  (Just as a reminder, we never rely on one or two signals, but we look at a large number of signals form a large number of indicators.)

The RSI was in the teens!  There are two other times on the chart below where we saw the stock this oversold.  Once in 2001, and before that in 1990.  These were two of the best times to buy Citigroup.  Let's zoom in (click on the image to enlarge it) ...

Below is a 10-year daily chart.  I highlighted in green where the RSI is below 30 (oversold).  In 2001, you could have acted on this signal and made about 60% in just a few months.  Obviously, the market wasn't finished punishing the stock yet, but if you held it from the purchase point in 2001, you still bought it close to the 2002 bottom.

I also drew two green lines indicating past support levels.  If the stock breaks the first one, it can get down to about $26 before finding new support.  If the stock makes it that low, you're buying the stock with an 8% yield.  Don't forget that people love to buy 8% paper with the expectation of getting their principle back in a decade.  Do you think that this mortgage crisis will be over sometime in the next decade?  If so, you might consider keeping a close eye on Citigroup because if it drops much lower, it will tempt me to break my rules and buy it.  (My rules keep me from buying "falling daggers", but  they also keep me from buying at the bottom.)

Let's zoom in some more...

Below is a three-year daily chart.  There are two things that you might want to focus on.  One is the MACD crossover (the blue line crosses above the reddish brown one), and the other is the RSI buy signal (reversal from the TEENS to above 30).

Now again, my PERSONAL style won't allow me to step in and buy until I see a bit more confirmation of a bottom.  But if you're a long-term stockholder (rather than an intermediate-term options trader) you might look for different criteria than I do. 

One more zoom in please...

Now here's something that we love to see.  Not only do we have buy signals in the RSI and MACD, but we see a positive divergence in BOTH.  This is a big deal (a very bullish sign).  Personally, I like to see the support levels tested before I step in and buy.  But there are a few ways to play this, depending on your personal investing style...

1. Nibble.  You might buy some here (while we have a 6.2% yield) and wait.  If it pulls back (and breaks through support), you might buy the rest if it bounces off of the $26.00 area.  (Again, this is a very long-term hold, and you can't cry if it drops to $20.00.  The buyers at the 2001 lows who didn't cry when it went from $30 to $52 to $30 were handsomely rewarded.  (Besides, imagine if you hold it and sell covered calls on it!!  You can make 12-15%/year without the stock even advancing.)

2. Sell naked puts.  This isn't as risky as it may sound, because you are limited on your downside (your short put trades to $30 if the stock moves to zero, which won't happen).  It's not like selling naked calls.  You take in the premium, and it deteriorates just from time passing!!  And if you're willing to buy the stock at $30.00, then you should be willing to sell the naked puts with a $30 strike price.  This isn't a lesson on options, so if you understand it, consider it.

3. Buy it here, and don't look back.  Accept the 6.2% yield.  Don't get upset if it drops to the mid-20s, and you miss the yield going up to 8%.  You are in low-risk territory, especially if you are a long-term trader.  Again, I'm usually not.  And that's why I wrote this in The Tycoon Report free of guilt towards The Trend Rider.  This wouldn't make it to the Trend Rider Model Portfolio which is 90% accurate over the last eight months.  (Had to throw that in there, didn't ya, Chris?)  But I thought everyone should consider the yield that you'll receive WITH the long-term upside.

 

Another 42% Gain in 11 Trading Days

When I first introduced Ian Cooper, I mentioned his 950 winning trades and 72% winning average over the past 10 years.

Amazingly, the run continues.

In the first two months, Small Cap Trading Pit has racked up amazing gains of 15%, 34%, 35%, 37%, 55%, and as of today, another 42% gain.

It's further proof of Ian's small cap trading attitude.

"Exposure to small cap stocks is a necessity if you want to build a strong portfolio."

It's an attitude well reflected in readers, too. See what they are saying.

"I had bought calls on Hoku on your alert and realized a 146% gain in a couple of days," said Francois.

"Thanks I now have 150 shares of HOKU for free...Signed up for the SC Trading Pit on Monday, bought into HOKU @ $7.92/sh on Tuesday, Thursday AM sold enough shares @ $12.00/sh to recoup my original investment which left me 150 shares HOKU for free...Does it get any better this? At the time of this letter that's a $1700 gain; in just 3 days or 150 free shares of a stock that has a great future," says Geoff.

Is Ian's latest string of Small Cap Trading Pit successes a fluke? Not at all... He's just getting warmed up.

Meeting the Man who Uses Google's Science to Catch Winning Stocks

As a result, his picks have been splashed everywhere, from the pages of Forbes and Investor's Business Daily to television spots up and down the dial.

Recently, I landed a private meeting with him. What I learned during our thirty-minute conversation could make a small group of you an absolute fortune . . .

A few Saturdays ago, I found myself waiting in the corner booth of Baltimore's newest Thai restaurant, a perfect low-key place for my private lunch with Ian Cooper, one of the nation's most accurate - and mysterious - options traders.

You see, his unstoppable track record is aided by his ability to understand what makes Google's one-of-a-kind algorithm work. He applies the same science -- that's made Google a $100 billion company -- to the stock market.

If true, it would explain his ability to constantly detect highly undervalued stocks just before they surge.

I'm not talking about coming out with double-digit gains. Ian's found a way to safely pull in triple-digit winner after triple-digit winner in an otherwise dangerous small-cap sector.

Naturally, I had to get to the bottom of it all to see if the rumors were true.

I was so eager, the ten-minute wait in a casual restaurant felt like three hours.

While waiting, I placed the tape recorder on the table, sipped a sweetened Thai iced tea and sifted through a sizeable stack of papers, each detailing highly explosive, successful trades he's made over the past seven years - 1,153 in all.

It didn't bother me that I was working on a weekend. If what I had heard about him was true, I knew it could turn into the most profitable meeting you will ever read about.

Meeting the man who manipulated Google's algorithm

Our paths initially crossed in a chance meeting at a Christmas Party back in 2001. He was just starting his soon-to-be highly successful career as a research analyst for a firm just down the street.

Since then, Ian's created quite the name for himself as a small-caps and options trading wizard. He's pulled in gains of:

120% on Royal Caribbean

194.12% on QQQ

269.52% on On2 Technologies

270% on ONT

268% on CYD

206.33% on VTSS

246% on IPIX

233% on TLTCJ

515.38% on MQJSB

225% on ETGP

302.15% on ASTM

And that's just to name a few.

His off-the-charts accuracy for reliably reading the markets, matched with his winner-after-winner track record, has plastered his sought-after advice on the pages of numerous publications. He's filled columns from Investor's Business Daily all the way to Forbes.

He's also frequently appeared on investment shows such as Money Matters with Barry Armstrong and On the Money with Mike Stein.

In other words, Ian has rapidly become the real deal.

He's successfully helped thousands of investors just like you, beating the Dow every year. And not just in good times. He saw the sub-prime collapse over a year before it started and warned investors right on time.

He saw it coming ahead of time and didn't just show them how to come away unscathed, they made money - lots of it - while the rest of the market panicked. He'd pulled in gains of:

188% gain from Thornburg

138% gain from Hovnanian

150% gain from Standard Pacific

Just to name a few.

It wasn't the first time. Ian somehow manages to unearth amazing plays no matter how the markets behave. Always one step ahead.

In fact, when things are bad, that's when he's pulled in the biggest gains.

Five minutes after he arrived, before our order of Green Curry and Ka Pow was set on the table, I found things were better than I ever dreamed . . .

Manipulating the world's most reliable algorithm into a profit-generating machine

It's one of the greatest achievements the internet ever experienced. And it almost never took place...

In 1996, two young, Stanford PhD students were partnered together by their professor, in an advanced computer-science class.

As with most - eventually - famous partnerships, the two geniuses were polar opposites.

In fact, aside from their taste in women, the only thing they had in common was their obsession with fixing the massive glitches found in every (at the time) internet search engine. To them, they weren't anywhere near as accurate as they should be.

They knew the solution lied in the algorithm, a powerful formula for computing and finding virtually anything.

It took over two years and several failed theories. But they finally hit pay-dirt. And landed a discovery so astounding that within just eight years, their algorithm would rapidly become the most trusted and reliable search engine on the planet.

Its one-of-a-kind, highly reliable system has launched Google from a single-server search engine to the largest American company outside of the Dow. It's so reliable, in fact, that after just nine years you no longer perform a "web search" for something, you "Google" it.

Its mainframe is built like a fortress, changing codes and updating itself almost every day.

But their algorithm, as I would soon find out, wouldn't be strictly limited to internet searches. As Ian phrased it...

What if you could take this algorithm and tweak it for your own uses?

What if you could use it to detect the hottest emerging trends, and the companies within them, the same exact way that makes Google so reliable?

What if there was a way to use it to detect one stock out of more than 17,000 that is just about to explode?

Before our food even arrived, I learned that's exactly what Ian's been doing.

The details I learned while talking with him are highly complicated. And if you aren't an experienced IT professional, you most likely wouldn't understand it.

That's all right. All you need to know is that six years ago, Ian started manipulating the algorithm.

And as you'll see in a moment, it's making a handful of investors like you quite rich.

It's not all he uses. But it is the last of ten powerful indicators Ian has perfected to help confirm the high probability of a stock launching several hundred percent!

He calls these ten indicators his Maxims of Fortune. And it's a fitting name.

In short, when the indicators align, it creates an extremely strong buy signal, and a stock's share price soon after does something marvelous . . . it skyrockets.

Now, something Ian has learned the hard way over the years is that even if you have nine out of ten indicators, forget about it. Save your money. It's not worth it.

Move on.

But when all ten are combined, the gains are so explosive, it's like hotwiring an ATM.

I'm not talking about finding one-trick ponies, either. Ian is dipping into the elusive small-cap sector and finding companies that rapidly turn into the giants of their industries.

These stable opportunities didn't used to come around all the time. Ian used to uncover maybe one or two a year. But now, thanks to his little-known ability to manipulate the most powerful algorithm on the planet, he's starting to find them closer to once a month!

And when his list of indicators starts urging a buy, he's been right there to recommend it. Always before it starts to surge.

For example, in October 2001, his indicators were urging a buy on Navisite, an IT hosting company whose share price had sunk from $1,000 to just $0.16.

Nobody wanted a piece of it, as people were fleeing dot-com stocks like the plague.

But Navisite's price was too low. And thanks to Ian's "Google-style" manipulation, the indicators fired on all cylinders when it bottomed out. It was time to buy.

Six years later, shares of Navisite trade for about $10. And investors who got in when Ian made the recommendation safely turned every $10,000 into $625,000!

Have a look:

Then, in October, 2002, he used these indicators again to uncover a growing web-acceleration company called Akamai . . .

At the time, shares of this company were bottomed out, trading for just $0.84. But at the same time, all signals from the indicators revealed the company as a go.

As expected, the price started to take off shortly after. By 2007, this emerging web-accelerator's shares broke $60!

The 7,043% gain made investors like you $714,285 for every $10,000 they started with!

Here. Check it out:

As we ate our food, and sipped more Thai iced teas, I noticed the stack of papers I held was full of examples from Ian's history of detecting these 1,000% gainers. And he's finding them in every industry.

Like his recommendation of ATP Oil and Gas . . .

When he found it, shares were trading for $3.64. Again, the indicators, topped with Google's manipulation, issued a strong buy signal.

Today, shares of ATP trade for over $51.35!

If you haven't noticed, he's finding these monsters in the once-inscrutable small-cap sector.

It's easy to see why. After all . . .

This is the sector where the real money is made. Where every investor dreams of "hitting it big." And where a stake of just a few thousand dollars could secure your entire retirement.

Ironically, most mainstream publications won't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

Tapping into an advantage of more than 21% a year - since 1925!

But Ian's found a way to detect these soon-to-be leaders of their industries among thousands of bottoms-up companies running on nothing more than rumor and fluff.

The method here, finding outstanding investment after investment, could be summed up in one word - leverage.

After all, this is the sector where index-crushing companies get started. It's the birthplace of Fortune 500 leaders such as Cisco Systems, Best Buy, and even the number-one Fortune 500 company, Wal-Mart.

In fact, the 2007 Ibbotson yearbook, considered the bible of the investment analysis community, recently announced that since 1925, small caps have outperformed large caps by more than 21% a year!

What's even more amazing is that only about 1% of the companies in this sector ever make any money. But that handful of stocks launches so high, so fast that it carries the entire sector's average above already-established large caps.

And now, thanks to this powerful Google manipulation, Ian's knock-'em-down set of indicators is taking full advantage of it.

In fact, because of how the market's responding to the dollar, high oil and gold prices and the continuing collapse of the sub-prime sector, Ian is starting to find opportunities with ten-bagger potential all over the place.

Right now, Ian tells me, he has five white-hot picks that according to his experience and indicators - are each on the verge of taking off. And as our lunch was wrapping up, we agreed that . . .

Ian's going to share his powerful secrets with you!

Before we even finished eating, I was sold and Ian was on board, filling out the paperwork to join our team.

Now, for the first time ever, Ian will share his Ten Maxims, along with his highly reliable algorithmic manipulation of Google, with investors just like you.

But most importantly - Ian is also eager to give you the details of five stocks that his Maxims and years of accurate experience tell him could launch several hundred percent this year!

To get you up to speed, Ian has a brand-new service, one unlike any other on the planet. It focuses solely on unlocking highly explosive opportunities in the small-cap sector using these indicators. I highly recommend you check it out.

It's called the SC Trading Pit.

SC, as you might have guessed, stands for Small Cap. And as the name implies, none of these opportunities will have a market cap of more than $500 million.

I know that might seem large, but in the investment world, it's not. Just look at Wal-Mart's massive market cap of over $198 billion - compared to the $205 million it started out with.

Even $22-billion giant Best Buy started with only $79 million. Now they're both household names.

The story's the same for scores of other Fortune 500 companies. And Ian's Ten Maxims will easily uncover future blockbusters for investors just like you.

In other words, if you were ever looking for an advisory that requires only a tiny bit of money to make an absolute fortune, this is it.

How the SC Trading Pit could make you filthy rich

It's perhaps the fastest, most efficient way an investor can make several hundred - even thousand - percent gains. And thanks to Ian's set of Ten Maxims, it's as easy as checking your email.

Every other week, a new issue of SC Trading Pit enters email boxes across the world.

Each issue will explain all the details of Ian's latest SC Trading Pit recommendations. These are the companies that Ian has thoroughly examined using the same painstaking criteria that made him the sought-after analyst he is today - using the secrets of his Ten Maxims of Fortune and his manipulation of the world's most trusted search engine.

These are companies that could easily break 1,000% gains within months - not decades.

On top of that, you'll also receive the latest updates from the companies currently in the SC Trading Pit portfolio. You'll be among the first to know about any company updates, news, progress and deals that are coming down the pike.

And of course, with any stock Ian recommends or sells (for a profit, of course), you'll know where to buy it, how much you stand to make, and most importantly, when to sell.

We'll also rush every new member a list of Ian's secret criteria he personally uses to find these companies.

It's a very easy-to-understand guide called The Ten Maxims of Fortune.

That way, not only can you analyze for yourself the companies we recommend and test them to see how they match up . . . but you can also use this report to find hidden opportunities of your own.

What's more, this report can be adapted to help you determine the attractiveness and probability of success of virtually every stock in the market.

It's yours FREE, just for joining SC Trading Pit.

I encourage you to print it out, keep a copy of it and use it for every opportunity you're considering, now and in the future.

And best of all . . .

You get all this for less than the cost of the Wall Street Journal.

As the trend goes, the more general a publication, the lower the price.

Take a look at some of the mainstream outlets. They're all extremely vague, big-picture and generalized. They run between $79 and $250 a year.

Don't get me wrong. We're not running them down at all. In fact, there's a copy of the Financial Times on the table as I write this letter. But the truth is, we don't care about a good chunk of what's in there.

It all concerns BIG business . . . and while it's valuable for reading up on any "safe," already established company, most truly wealthy investors have made the bulk of their money from the exact opposite.

That's why Ian has created SC Trading Pit in the first place.

Now, typically, a highly specific service like SC Trading Pit would cost several hundred dollars a year. Heck, even several thousand isn't unheard of in this business. But we're not going to go anywhere near that.

The price for an annual membership in SC Trading Pit?

It's only $99 a year.

That's right. An annual membership in SC Trading Pit is just a hair over $0.27 a day!

For that, you get instant access to the SC Trading Pit Portfolio, 26 information-packed issues detailing the opportunities in this explosive sector, industry updates, our latest stock recommendations AND your own copy of The Ten Maxims of Fortune so that you can gauge our picks and even find some of your own.

A 68.7% Growth Rate In A $20 Billion Industry. Interested?

Meet Jeff Siegel

Jeff Siegel is the managing editor of Green Chip Stocks, an investment advisory service focusing on stocks in the alternative/renewable energy markets, as well as the lucrative organic food and sustainable living sectors.

Jeff's Green Chip Stocks portfolio has earned exceptional returns for his readers each of the last three years. His average yearly portfolio returns:

2005: +40.66%
2006: +29.7%
2007: +26.9%

Jeff is a new breed of investor. Part entrepreneur, part Renaissance man, Jeff is an accomplished musician and writer, having recorded and performed all over the world - from London to Rome to New York. He was even called upon to score part of the latest Exorcist prequel.

From 1994 to 2001, Jeff worked for Agora Publishing, one of the largest financial newsletter publishers in the world.

In the past 6 years, he's traveled across America searching for mega-trends that'll usher in a new generation of wealth.

Once a week in Green Chip Stocks, Jeff highlights investment opportunities in the fast-growing "Green" market.

A Government Mandated Bull Market

SB-1 mandates that solar power systems must be offered as a standard item on new homes - developers of more than 50 new single family homes must offer this option to customers beginning January 1, 2011.

Solar Fact #1: Every hour, the sun radiates more energy onto the earth than the entire human population uses in one whole year.

Solar Fact #2: As prices for coal, natural gas and oil have soared, solar power has been getting perhaps its most serious look from investors since President Jimmy Carter pulled on a cardigan and asked Americans to damp their furnaces. The new interest means that the handful of domestic solar top stocks to buy has been surging, too."
--The New York Times, September 11th, 2005

Solar Fact #3: Few power-generation technologies have as little impact on the environment as photovoltaics. As it quietly generates electricity from light, PV produces no air pollution or hazardous waste. It doesn't require liquid or gaseous fuels to be transported or combusted. And because its energy source--sunlight--is free and abundant, PV systems can guarantee access to electric power."
--U.S. Department of Energy

INCREASING THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME:

According to a recent study from the Appraisal Institute, the selling price of homes increases by $20.73 for every $1 decrease in annual electric bills. Using this 20:1 multiplier, a typical 3kW system--costing about $12,000 after incentives and saving about $1,000 in annual energy costs--will increase the value of your home by $20,000.

On August 21, 2006 the government passed "SB-1 Energy Dividend Act" into law. The law allows homeowners a legal way to run their electric meters backwards… and it's making some people rich:

Larry Hagman -- the actor who played J.R. Ewing on the hit drama series Dallas � took advantage of it on his 42-acre avocado farm… and has seen his electric bill fall from $37,000 per year to just $13! He now banks over $36,000 each year!

Debbie and Tom Lake from Long Beach, California also took the plunge. They now pay just $1.34 a month for their electricity. -- Wall Street Journal

All across America, homeowners and businesses alike are slashing their energy costs by switching to a new power source and running their meters backwards.

The new energy source doesn't use coal, natural gas, oil or nuclear. It's completely clean, abundant and rapidly growing in use.

In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the number of homes running their meter backwards nearly tripled between 2002 and 2006... going from 2,805 to 7,446. Industry officials say this number will exceed 11,000 this year.

And it's all thanks to a little California government law that's quickly growing in popularity across America -- CA SB-1. It allows you to collect money from the utility companies.

The best part is, there's a company -- the only company publicly traded of its kind -- showing homeowners how to do it.

Turning an obscure government law into the electric company's worst nightmare

Here's how it works...

A typical large house in the San Jose, California area with air conditioning or a swimming pool will use about 1,500 kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity per month. At current PG&E rates (the area's electric company), this level of consumption works out to about $300 per month for electricity averaged throughout the year.

With a state-wide population of about 39 million, PG&E is cleaning up.

But now, thanks to SB-1, a law, signed in August of 2006, Americans are finding the expensive electric bill to be a thing of the past. And savvy investors are setting themselves up for a windfall...

How is this possible?

Because the energy source I'm talking about is solar energy... and the tiny company I'm about to reveal to you is a solar panel installation company. And that's why I'm writing to you today -- this company is one of two publicly-traded solar panel installation companies in America.

There are a lot of publicly-traded companies that make solar panels like First Solar, SunPower and Suntech. But this tiny $8 company is the only one that actually comes to your home and installs the panels. It's a pure play on the booming panel installation market.

On September 24, this small solar panel installation company finally listed its shares for trading on the NASDAQ exchange.

Prior to that, it traded on the OTC bulletin board, where it didn't get a lot of attention from Wall Street or John Q. Investor.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I recommended this stock in my trading service last year. I got my traders into the stock for a measly $3 a share.

Today?

Well, when the stock moved to the NASDAQ, it shot up to record levels!

And my readers banked a gain of over 316%.

Now that this solar stock is trading on the widely-followed NASDAQ, it has matured from a speculative trade to a long-term investment.

Why?

Because now that it's on the NASDAQ, big institutional investors like Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs can buy this top stock easily.

And the buying has begun. On the first day the stock traded on the NASDAQ, volume for this little puppy was over 1 million shares. That's massive, considering the stock's average daily volume was just 175,000!

On the second day?

Another million shares.

But this is just the beginning, trust me.

You see, solar is the new oil. It's an energy source that's abundant, clean and it never runs out. The price of solar energy is coming down... and it'll soon be competitive with oil, gas and coal.

That's why big investment institutions are lining up to buy this stock just like they did with First Solar and SunPower. These solar companies have exploded to the upside as investors have rushed the doors in an effort to participate in the hottest technology in alternative energy. Here are the charts for these two top stocks for 2010:

I think our tiny solar installation stock will follow the same path. Why?

First, because the solar bull market is still in its infancy. It's only a year or two old. So we have a lot of time to make a lot of money in the solar market.

And second, because this small company is literally the only pure solar panel installation corporation that's publicly traded. Add the fact that they control the largest solar markets in America--California, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey--and you get the picture. This stock is a Roman candle about to be lit.

Seriously, it's the only game in town, my friend. And when there's only one way to play a certain industry--an industry that's super hot--the chances are high that a massive tsunami of investment dollars will flood into the best stock to buy.

What will occur is an investment phenomenon known as "too many dollars chasing one stock".

So you can see why I've turned super bullish on this best stock to buy... because there's going to be a feeding frenzy as all these investment dollars rush into it.

But there's more...

Insiders control a ton of shares. In fact, they control roughly 44% of the company's outstanding shares. They own about 12 million shares. That's massive, and I love it. I love it when the company's management has such a large vested interest in seeing their stock perform well.

So far, the stock has done quite well under their leadership. Like I said, my traders have been rewarded with over 316% in the past 12 months.

The rest of the shares--another 15 million--are in the float. That means there are 12 million shares available to individual investors like you and me... as well as to big Wall Street investment firms.

I'm telling you this for a specific reason.

As of this writing, only about 4% of the stock is owned by institutions. That's a paltry 1.3 million shares.

Now, institutions are ready to buy big blocks of this best stock to buy. When they do this, the price will be forced up. Buying = increasing stock prices.

That's why it's vital that you buy this best stock now... while it's still trading under $8 a share.

How to Play the Solar Bull Market

We've seen this before.

Every time there's a new "angle" to play in the solar market, there's a rush on certain top stocks to buy.

For example, about 3 years ago, the largest solar manufacturers were announcing that silicon, a key component in solar production, was in short supply.

In fact, take a look at MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR:NYSE).

MEMC manufactures silicon wafer technology for the solar industry. And in 2004, right before the silicon rush, the stock was trading at $8 a share.

Today, only three years later, it trades around $82 a share.

I'll talk more about the parallels with MEMC in a minute, but first let me tell you why this emerging California solar company is following in the same footsteps.

You see, this stock is small, trading at a market cap of around $200 million. And it's completely under Wall Street's radar.

But that's changing. And changing fast.

Wall Street is tripping over itself trying to find new and promising solar top stocks to invest in.

And the reason is simple: Major profits!

Not only are alternative energy top stocks red-hot right now, posting an average annual gain of more than 40% since 2003, but these companies represent the next generation of energy.

Take a look at the New Alternatives ETF, a fund that tracks solar, geothermal, wind and ethanol top stocks for 2010:

It's the future. Plain and simple.

To give you an example, when First Solar went public in November '06, the buying frenzy shocked many traders unfamiliar with the progress in the alternative energy markets... but not me.

You see, this company was bringing updated technology that was disruptive to your run-of-the-mill solar energy company. It was bringing a "new angle".

Much like our young solar installation stock right now.

Analysts originally predicted that First Solar's stock would open somewhere between $16 and $18 a share. But on the morning of November 17, shares of First Solar opened at $25 a share, and never looked back.

Today it trades for $227 a share!

And it commands a market cap of $17.2 BILLION! And that's on sales of $237 million.

Solar's Sunny Days

With the solar energy industry booming, there's been a trickle-down effect, too. Any company directly or indirectly connected with solar is benefiting.

Again, take a look at MEMC Electronic Materials, for example. It's a global supplier of silicon wafer technology to the solar industry.

Its stock has soared in value, going from $1.05 in 2001 to a high today of over $80. That's a gain of nearly 5,995%.

With gains like that, investors are making fortunes in alternative energy top stocks to buy.

That's why I'm so bullish on my tiny solar panel installation stock. It's next in line for blockbuster gains.I'm predicting that every $10,000 invested will turn into $20,000 within 12 months.

Double up and you're looking at $40,000.

Sounds too good to be true? One of my favorite solar recommendations, World Water & Power (WWAT.OB), has gone from $0.14 in 2006 to over $2.50 this year.

Take a look:

Likewise, I think this new solar roof stock will easily hit $24.00 by this time next year... and maybe $77 a share (just like MEMC Electronic) within three years.

You can still pick up shares of this solar stock for less than $8 a share!

In a minute, I'll tell you how to get a piece of the action. But first, let me tell you why...

You Must Erase "Alternative" from Alternative Energy

Let me dispel a myth. "Alternative"--as in alternative energy--isn't "alternative" anymore. It's going mainstream.

Over the past several years, FedEx, Staples, the Timberland Co., Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Macy's, Tiffany & Co, Toyota, Target, Lowe's, corporate behemoth Wal-Mart and even the U.S. Department of Defense have begun installing solar panels at their stores and facilities.

Now listen, I don't want you to be disillusioned. These companies aren't installing solar panels because they've suddenly become concerned about global warming.

No, they've installed solar panels because it'll reduce their electric bills by as much as 90% each month.

That's what's driving the boom in solar energy.

But it's a boom that still hasn't caught on with John Q. Investor.

In fact, the ordinary investor doesn't have a clue about the potential in these top stocks for 2010. Let me explain...

It wasn't that long ago that I attended the Solar Power Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C.

It's one of the largest, most influential future and clean energy conferences in America, where policymakers and leaders in the energy industries learn about the latest in solar technologies.

It was there that I had an epiphany.

You see, while attending a press conference with Senator Lamar Alexander (chairman of the subcommittee on energy) and three of the most powerful CEOs in the solar industry, I made an important and profitable discovery--one that has already made some investors a lot of money!

On that Friday afternoon, in a makeshift pressroom in the basement of the Hyatt Regency hotel, only eight journalists were meticulously taking notes.

Eight journalists! That's it!

That's when I realized the average investor is still clueless as to just how lucrative this market is.

But that's OK. Because while these guys sleep through what is already shaping up to be one of the most profitable markets of the 21st century, a group of wise investors is making a fortune in solar.

In fact, the last solar manufacturer I recommended has already delivered gains of more than 245% in the past six months.

But I'm expecting even more from this next one.

Let me show you why, of all the publicly traded solar companies, this is the one you must own.

$40 to 50 billion in revenue by 2010

During the energy crisis of the 1970s, serious interest in solar technology took hold in the U.S. But due to prohibitive prices, large-scale applications were nearly impossible.

However, in 2008, with oil trading over $90 a barrel, interest in solar has returned. Only this time, PV is cost-effective.

In 1976, the average selling price per watt was about $100. Today it's significantly less. Take a look:

With such a drastic reduction in price, coupled with the ever-increasing price of oil, it's no wonder that both residential and industrial consumers are starting to flock towards solar alternatives.

In fact, since 2001, the global photovoltaic market has averaged about 40% annual growth. And this year alone, PV production is expected to reach 1.5 gigawatts, representing approximately $11 billion in revenue. That's double its level in 2003.

By 2010, analysts estimate global PV manufacturing will be sufficient to meet one third of new U.S. electric demand annually--representing $40 to 50 billion in revenue!

There's no doubt the PV business is booming.

Mother Nature is bullish on solar!

Something very important is going to happen this winter that's going to push the renewable energy market to new heights--especially solar!

This winter, Americans will pay nearly twice as much as they paid last year in heating bills.

And mark my words, when the first really nasty cold snap forces consumers (especially business owners) to jack their thermostats past 70, the market is going to warm up to solar, fast!

Here's why...

Over the past two years, the solar industry has hit new highs every time Mother Nature reminded us who's boss.

Last summer, for example, Arizona had record peak usage and almost maxed out capacity when the state endured record-breaking temperatures as high as 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

And only a few days after hurricane Katrina ripped New Orleans to shreds (and devoured its electrical grid), solar stocks soared.

Of course, these are two examples where Mother Nature's effect on energy supplies was relatively short-lived.

But a little later this year will be the beginning of at least three to four months of blistering cold weather--and overwhelming heating bills.

It will be a cold and hard wake-up call for most of the country when we finally realize that natural gas and fossil fuels are no longer cheap and abundant. And the reality of renewable energy is going to take hold more strongly than you've ever seen before.

And one company that's going to exploit this for everything it's worth is featured in my special report, SB-1 Energy Dividends.

In this report I outline why this solar company--with a market cap of just $220 million--stands to profit more than almost any other solar energy company on the planet.

Even when matched against industry giants like Sharp, Kyocera and BP Solar!

But you have to act fast.

Energy legislation is scorching hot on the Hill right now.

And the extension of the solar tax credit is right around the corner.

The last solar tax credit extension for just one year pushed solar through the roof.

Just imagine what this next eight-year extension's going to do!

Rest assured, this thing's going to get passed. And really, for no other reason than that every politician in Washington knows this one's a big-time vote-getter.

That's why I want you to buy this solar energy stock right now, before it goes up any further.

And that's why I want to offer you my latest report, SB-1 Energy Dividends, completely FREE of charge when you become a member of my cutting-edge investment service, Green Chip Stocks.

Let me explain...

Welcome to Green Chip Stocks

Green Chip Stocks represents the most important stocks traded today, for one simple reason--these are the stocks that will be the catalysts for the first real profit trend of the 21st century.

A profit trend that is already worth more than $30 billion in its infancy!

Grabbing your share now is like getting a piece of the automobile market back in 1908. And I don't mean just Ford, either. I'm talking about the market as a whole. Oil, rubber tires, road construction, etc.

Turning the Green Movement into Mountains of Greenbacks

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff Siegel.

I worked for one of America's largest financial publishers 1994 to 2001, learning about the financial markets from some of the top investment minds in the world.

For the past six years, I've been traveling the world investigating the current state and the future of energy.

My travels have taken me to Rome, London, New York... and everywhere in between.

Now, I was taught that the time to invest in a stock or industry is when nobody is talking about it. You sell it when everybody is talking about it.

And that's why I'm writing to you today. Even though solar stocks are rising, the solar industry is where the oil industry was in 1920 -- it's still an infant!

I have a report I want to give you for joining my investment service, Green Chip Stocks.

The report is SB-1 Energy Dividends. This report features my favorite energy stock, the only publicly-traded solar panel company in America.

Now trading for less than $9 a share, I think this stock is a potential blockbuster that could return over 200% in just 12 months.

Simply fill out your membership form and I'll immediately send you a username and password that'll give you access to the report.

Plus, when you join Green Chip Stocks, you'll receive my members-only weekly letter, which updates you on current positions and alerts you to new stocks I'm recommending.

So, you get the report, SB-1 Energy Dividends, plus 52 issues of Green Chip Stocks.

Not a bad deal... for just $79 a year.

Especially when you consider our track record.

The fact is, we were the first to launch this kind of service focusing strictly on "green" markets.

And we were the first to bring our readers stocks like XsunX (XSNX.OB), which we sold for a 545.95% gain, and Regi U.S. (RGUS.OB), which we sold for a 218% gain, and Wild Oats (OATS:NASDAQ), which we sold for a 74.5% gain.

For less than $0.22 a day, you just can't beat gains like that!

If at any time you're not completely satisfied with the quality of service and commentary offered, simply cancel before 30 days and I'll refund every penny.

And this next one--our $8 solar installation stock--is already shaping up to be our next triple-bagger.

So don't wait.

Get it now while it's still trading below $8.

CNBC's Corporate Puppeteering: Time To Cash In

Investors are getting it. . .

In fact, they're figuring out what the bullish talking heads of CNBC can't―or won't.

It's what we're calling the biggest profit opportunity of the next two years.

Of course, CNBC's goons aren't the only ones to miss it. . .

Remember when Richard Fuld told us the worst of the crisis was "behind us"?

Or when FDIC Chairman Sheila Barr said we were in the 7th inning?

Or when Morgan Stanley said we were in the 3rd?

See a pattern developing here?

You see, the worst is far from over. The President is aware of this. Even the director of the president's National Economic Council believes the worst isn't over, saying, "'It's very likely that more jobs will be lost. It would not be surprising if GDP has not yet reached its low."

So, what is it CNBC bulls know that we don't?

Nothing.  They're pandering to the corporate elitists who sign their checks. And what they're not telling brings us to...

The most profitable event of the next 2 years...

As we've been warning for months, the next phase of the real estate disaster is upon us. It's just shifted from subprime to Option ARM.

And with many economists predicting unemployment will rise into the double digits, foreclosures will only accelerate, which will add to bank losses, which will add pressure to the financial system and broader economy.

The Fed is well aware of what's coming. Why do you think they're so desperate to pump up the economy before the next fiasco?

Truth is, the amount of debt wrapped up in these Option ARMs is much worse than that of subprime. And if the government or the banks fail to understand this, the second round we've been warning about will begin and banking instability will wreak havoc yet again.

Option ARM resets will be tougher for the economy to handle than subprime. And we will see greater numbers of bank failures, job losses, foreclosures, delinquencies, and economic hardships.

Honest.

Look at what the Wall Street Journal had to say this weekend:

For the third straight month, option adjustable-rate mortgages are generating proportionally more delinquencies and foreclosures than subprime mortgages, the scourge of the housing crisis.

A further acceleration of troubles among the loans could mean higher-than-expected losses for Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s own insurance fund.

"The realization of the issues related to option ARMs is just beginning," says Chris Marinac, director of research at Atlanta-based FIG Partners.

The Year of Option ARM Resets. . . and Why There's No Foreseeable Bottom.

Just as 2007 and 2008 were the years of subprime woes, this one will go down as the year of Option ARM resets (or adjustable rate mortgage resets). With billions in Option ARM resets in 2009 and 2010, this crisis is about to unleash a fury no one's prepared for.

It won't be as bad as subprime, of course. It'll be worse.

 

 

That's because lenders created these ARMs with "teaser" features for borrowers, which included making lower minimal payments for the first few years before the loan reset to a higher payment schedule. And if that weren't bad enough, there was another feature called "negative amortization," which meant you weren't paying back any principal.

In fact, with negative amortization loans, your loan balance increased over time. Incredulously, every time you made a payment, you owed the bank even more. These are the loans that allowed consumers to buy houses they couldn't otherwise afford.

As for speculators, they may use negative amortization loans if they believe prices will increase at a fast pace. But with the opposite happening, they're out of luck.

And the banks will be left holding the bag.

What should concern you is that about $750 billion worth of option adjustable mortgages (option ARMs) were issued between 2004 and 2007. . . and will begin resetting shortly. And banks like Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo are in for a rough ride, given their exposure to option ARMs.

Worse, as of December 2008, about 28% of option ARMs were delinquent or in foreclosure, according to reports. Compare that to the 23% default rate in September 2008. And nearly 61% of option ARMs originated in 2007 "will eventually default," according to a Goldman Sachs report.

What will happen is this: many borrowers, if they haven't already, will start throwing in the towel as they realize just how far under water they really are. And the likes of JP Morgan (JPM) could be heavily and negatively impacted.

One thing's for certain. . . we'll be paying for someone else's mistake yet again.

The Deflationary Downturn

Stocks and oil both held steady on Friday.

Gold, however, took a big hit - minus $26.

There are three kinds of money in the marketplace. There's the smart money that goes with the trend. There's the dumb money that bets against the trend. And there's the money that doesn't know whether it is coming or going.

The trouble is always figuring out which is which.

The markets are clearly in a deflationary downturn. No doubt about it. After a long period of credit expansion credit is finally contracting. The smart money is probably betting on lower asset prices.

"Consumer credit falls the second most on record," reported Bloomberg last Thursday.

Houses, as everyone knows, are deflating. There are signs that the fall in housing prices is becoming less violent, but the trend is still down.

This from Robert Shiller, in the New York Times:

"Long declines do happen with some regularity. And despite the uptick last week in pending home sales and recent improvement in consumer confidence, we still appear to be in a continuing price decline.

"There are many historical examples. After the bursting of the Japanese housing bubble in 1991, land prices in Japan's major cities fell every single year for 15 consecutive years.

"Why does this happen?"

Shiller goes on to explain that housing markets don't adjust quickly. People make their housing decisions years in advance...based on changes in their lives. They may have found a job somewhere...or gotten a divorce...or their children may have left home...or they might just want to live in a different area. These plans take years to come together...and years to execute. They can be reversed by changes in market conditions...but not quickly.

And then, when people are planning to sell a house, they may not be in a hurry. If prices slip, they may decide to hold off - maybe for years.

Then too, decisions about buying or selling a house are often decisions taken by two people together. The husband may be desperate to get out of a sinking housing market, for example, but the wife may not want to leave her home. Even when they must sell for financial reasons, that decision can take months...even years...to reach. Often, they hesitate. The wife expects to get a better job...or the husband expects a raise...or they anticipate some other economic change in their lives that would forestall the need to sell their house.

Then, after the decision is made, there's the actual process of selling a house -- setting a price...and finding a willing buyer. In a downward market, buyers' expectations tend to adjust most quickly. Reading in the paper about a correction in the housing market, the prospective buyer expects a great deal. The prospective seller, on the other hand, tends to deny the severity of the downturn. He reluctantly and belatedly acknowledges that he'll need to lower his price. But as he gives in the market gives way further. The prospective buyer hears about more great deals that other buyers are getting...and he lowers his price targets even faster than the sellers lower their asking price.

Shiller gives another example...

"An elderly couple who during the boom were holding out against selling their home and moving to a continuing-care retirement community have decided that it's finally the time to do so. It may take them a year or two to sort through a lifetime of belongings and prepare for the move, but they may never revisit their decision again.

"As a result, we will have a seller and no buyer, and there will be that much less demand relative to supply - and one more reason that prices may continue to fall, or stagnate, in 2010 or 2011.

"All of these people could be made to change their plans if a sharp improvement in the economy got their attention. The young couple could change their minds and decide to buy next year, and the elderly couple could decide to further postpone their selling. That would leave us with a buyer and no seller, providing an upward kick to the market price....

"Even if there is a quick end to the recession, the housing market's poor performance may linger. After the last home price boom, which ended about the time of the 1990-91 recession, home prices did not start moving upward, even incrementally, until 1997."

We're also looking at $2.4 trillion worth of Alt-A mortgages that will need to be refinanced or reset. The peak in those resets won't happen until January 2013.Learn how to protect yourself (and even turn a profit) in the face of the second wave of loan defaults.

So stay tuned...this housing bear market isn't going away any time soon.

More news from Ian at The 5 Min. Forecast:

"For the first time since at least second World War, Americans are acting like... well... everyone else," writes Ian in today's issue of The 5 Min. Forecast.

"Americans are spending less this year than they did in 2008. Believe it or not, that's a first since WWII. What's more, we're saving at a historic clip...the personal savings rate (updated Friday) jumped from near 0% last year to 5.7%, a 14 year high and the fastest growth rate since at least 1950, when the government started keeping track. Check it out:


"'We believe this is crucial to household balance sheet repair," adds our macro-man Rob Parenteau, "but it can only continue if some other sector of the economy is willing to reduce its net saving or increase its deficit spending. Otherwise, in a dynamic sense, saving by one household simply leads to income shortfalls and dissaving elsewhere.

"'Contrary to the textbook story, intended saving does not automatically provoke planned investment, even with interest rates lower. With the monthly trade deficit improvement beginning to stall as U.S. consumption and production stabilize, the only other sectoral source that can support higher household saving besides fiscal deficit spending is higher business reinvestment rates, but that is probably a good year out from now.

"'At best, then, we can hope the gross personal saving rate stabilizes near current levels until business investment revives. In the meantime, it all hangs on fiscal stimulus getting traction.'"

You can catch Rob (along with all your favorite Agora Financial editors) next month, at the Agora Financial Investment Symposium in Vancouver, British Columbia. If you haven't secured your spot yet, you better act fast...this event is sure to sell out. Get all the information here:

The Agora Financial Investment Symposium - July 21 - 24, Vancouver, B.C.

And back to our thoughts:

Housing is wealth for America's middle class. As long as housing is going down - or even NOT going up - the middle class is going to feel poor. It has the huge debts that it built up during the credit expansion...and it has to pay them, even though it has 1) falling incomes...and 2) falling assets.

The smart money is probably betting that this deflationary correction has further to go...probably much further to go.

But against this natural, normal -- and probably inevitable -- market trend are the hopes and fantasies of an entire generation. The baby boomers have staked their futures on continuing EZ credit. So have their leaders. And so now, the feds and the voters are of one mind. Both want to stop the market correction AT ALL COST - especially if they can lay the bill onto the next generation.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Because the dumb money is probably betting that the feds can make this work. That's what all this talk of "green shoots" is about. A huge part of the public believes that the 'worst is over'...and that the feds' policies are working. They're buying stocks in the belief that this is a recession just like any recession of the post-war period. Ben Bernanke says it will be over by Christmas; they believe him.

Meanwhile, there are some very smart people who think the feds' efforts not only won't work...but will create an even bigger disaster. Those people are buying gold...and commodities.

David Einhorn, the hedge fund manager who foresaw Lehman Bros. going broke, is now buying gold. John Paulson, who made billions by being right about the credit crisis, is also buying gold. The Chinese are buying gold. So many smart people are buying gold coins that they have become hard to get.

What's our view? Who's right? The dumb money; the smart money; or the very smart money?

They may be all right...but at different times. This rally could last a while longer. Then, prices will probably resume their downward path...and then, eventually, inflation fears will send gold soaring. And when it does you'll be prepared...because you've taken advantage of the golden opportunity of a generation. Click on the link below to learn more - but hurry...only 356 copies remain of this special report, Set for Life: Eight Keys to Getting "Miserable Rich" with Gold.

We continue to answer the question - "will we have inflation or deflation" - in the positive. 'Yes,' we say, 'both of them.'

The markets must fully express themselves - which means they need to bounce...and then take the stuffing out of asset prices. Today's asset prices represent yesterday's economic calculations. The value of a house, for example, depends the economic conditions of the bubble period, 2002-2007...and on the whole swell of the great post-war credit expansion. That house price is now adjusting to the post-bubble era...when people have lower living standards and less expectation of a rising housing market. That adjustment will take many years and eventually leave house prices probably 20% to 30% below where they are today.

But the feds must fully express themselves too. They're bound and determined to cause inflation. They believe the country's financial future depends on it. It may take them a long time to get the upper hand in their war against capitalism...but eventually, they will do it. And eventually, the very smart money will be proven right - when the dollar collapses...and gold goes up.

A 68.7% Growth Rate In A $20 Billion Industry. Interested?

On August 21, 2006 the government passed "SB-1 Energy Dividend Act" into law. The law allows homeowners a legal way to run their electric meters backwards… and it's making some people rich:

Larry Hagman -- the actor who played J.R. Ewing on the hit drama series Dallas � took advantage of it on his 42-acre avocado farm… and has seen his electric bill fall from $37,000 per year to just $13! He now banks over $36,000 each year!

Debbie and Tom Lake from Long Beach, California also took the plunge. They now pay just $1.34 a month for their electricity. -- Wall Street Journal

All across America, homeowners and businesses alike are slashing their energy costs by switching to a new power source and running their meters backwards.

The new energy source doesn't use coal, natural gas, oil or nuclear. It's completely clean, abundant and rapidly growing in use.

In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the number of homes running their meter backwards nearly tripled between 2002 and 2006... going from 2,805 to 7,446. Industry officials say this number will exceed 11,000 this year.

And it's all thanks to a little California government law that's quickly growing in popularity across America -- CA SB-1. It allows you to collect money from the utility companies.

The best part is, there's a company -- the only company publicly traded of its kind -- showing homeowners how to do it.

Turning an obscure government law into the electric company's worst nightmare

Here's how it works...

A typical large house in the San Jose, California area with air conditioning or a swimming pool will use about 1,500 kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity per month. At current PG&E rates (the area's electric company), this level of consumption works out to about $300 per month for electricity averaged throughout the year.

With a state-wide population of about 39 million, PG&E is cleaning up.

But now, thanks to SB-1, a law, signed in August of 2006, Americans are finding the expensive electric bill to be a thing of the past. And savvy investors are setting themselves up for a windfall...

How is this possible?

Because the energy source I'm talking about is solar energy... and the tiny company I'm about to reveal to you is a solar panel installation company. And that's why I'm writing to you today -- this company is one of two publicly-traded solar panel installation companies in America.

There are a lot of publicly-traded companies that make solar panels like First Solar, SunPower and Suntech. But this tiny $8 company is the only one that actually comes to your home and installs the panels. It's a pure play on the booming panel installation market.

On September 24, this small solar panel installation company finally listed its shares for trading on the NASDAQ exchange.

Prior to that, it traded on the OTC bulletin board, where it didn't get a lot of attention from Wall Street or John Q. Investor.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I recommended this stock in my trading service last year. I got my traders into the stock for a measly $3 a share.

Today?

Well, when the stock moved to the NASDAQ, it shot up to record levels!

And my readers banked a gain of over 316%.

Now that this solar stock is trading on the widely-followed NASDAQ, it has matured from a speculative trade to a long-term investment.

Why?

Because now that it's on the NASDAQ, big institutional investors like Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs can buy this stock easily.

And the buying has begun. On the first day the stock traded on the NASDAQ, volume for this little puppy was over 1 million shares. That's massive, considering the stock's average daily volume was just 175,000!

On the second day?

Another million shares.

But this is just the beginning, trust me.

You see, solar is the new oil. It's an energy source that's abundant, clean and it never runs out. The price of solar energy is coming down... and it'll soon be competitive with oil, gas and coal.

That's why big investment institutions are lining up to buy this stock just like they did with First Solar and SunPower. These solar companies have exploded to the upside as investors have rushed the doors in an effort to participate in the hottest technology in alternative energy. Here are the charts for these two stocks:

I think our tiny solar installation stock will follow the same path. Why?

First, because the solar bull market is still in its infancy. It's only a year or two old. So we have a lot of time to make a lot of money in the solar market.

And second, because this small company is literally the only pure solar panel installation corporation that's publicly traded. Add the fact that they control the largest solar markets in America--California, New York, Connecticut and New Jersey--and you get the picture. This stock is a Roman candle about to be lit.

Seriously, it's the only game in town, my friend. And when there's only one way to play a certain industry--an industry that's super hot--the chances are high that a massive tsunami of investment dollars will flood into the stock.

What will occur is an investment phenomenon known as "too many dollars chasing one stock".

So you can see why I've turned super bullish on this stock... because there's going to be a feeding frenzy as all these investment dollars rush into it.

But there's more...

Insiders control a ton of shares. In fact, they control roughly 44% of the company's outstanding shares. They own about 12 million shares. That's massive, and I love it. I love it when the company's management has such a large vested interest in seeing their stock perform well.

So far, the stock has done quite well under their leadership. Like I said, my traders have been rewarded with over 316% in the past 12 months.

The rest of the shares--another 15 million--are in the float. That means there are 12 million shares available to individual investors like you and me... as well as to big Wall Street investment firms.

I'm telling you this for a specific reason.

As of this writing, only about 4% of the stock is owned by institutions. That's a paltry 1.3 million shares.

Now, institutions are ready to buy big blocks of this stock. When they do this, the price will be forced up. Buying = increasing stock prices.

That's why it's vital that you buy this stock now... while it's still trading under $8 a share.

How to Play the Solar Bull Market

We've seen this before.

Every time there's a new "angle" to play in the solar market, there's a rush on certain stocks.

For example, about 3 years ago, the largest solar manufacturers were announcing that silicon, a key component in solar production, was in short supply.

In fact, take a look at MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR:NYSE).

MEMC manufactures silicon wafer technology for the solar industry. And in 2004, right before the silicon rush, the stock was trading at $8 a share.

Today, only three years later, it trades around $82 a share.

I'll talk more about the parallels with MEMC in a minute, but first let me tell you why this emerging California solar company is following in the same footsteps.

You see, this stock is small, trading at a market cap of around $200 million. And it's completely under Wall Street's radar.

But that's changing. And changing fast.

Wall Street is tripping over itself trying to find new and promising solar stocks to invest in.

And the reason is simple: Major profits!

Not only are alternative energy stocks red-hot right now, posting an average annual gain of more than 40% since 2003, but these companies represent the next generation of energy.

Take a look at the New Alternatives ETF, a fund that tracks solar, geothermal, wind and ethanol stocks:

It's the future. Plain and simple.

To give you an example, when First Solar went public in November '06, the buying frenzy shocked many traders unfamiliar with the progress in the alternative energy markets... but not me.

You see, this company was bringing updated technology that was disruptive to your run-of-the-mill solar energy company. It was bringing a "new angle".

Much like our young solar installation stock right now.

Analysts originally predicted that First Solar's stock would open somewhere between $16 and $18 a share. But on the morning of November 17, shares of First Solar opened at $25 a share, and never looked back.

Today it trades for $227 a share!

And it commands a market cap of $17.2 BILLION! And that's on sales of $237 million.

Solar's Sunny Days

With the solar energy industry booming, there's been a trickle-down effect, too. Any company directly or indirectly connected with solar is benefiting.

Again, take a look at MEMC Electronic Materials, for example. It's a global supplier of silicon wafer technology to the solar industry.

Its stock has soared in value, going from $1.05 in 2001 to a high today of over $80. That's a gain of nearly 5,995%.

With gains like that, investors are making fortunes in alternative energy stocks.

That's why I'm so bullish on my tiny solar panel installation stock. It's next in line for blockbuster gains.I'm predicting that every $10,000 invested will turn into $20,000 within 12 months.

Double up and you're looking at $40,000.

Sounds too good to be true? One of my favorite solar recommendations, World Water & Power (WWAT.OB), has gone from $0.14 in 2006 to over $2.50 this year.

Take a look:

Likewise, I think this new solar roof stock will easily hit $24.00 by this time next year... and maybe $77 a share (just like MEMC Electronic) within three years.

You can still pick up shares of this solar stock for less than $8 a share!

In a minute, I'll tell you how to get a piece of the action. But first, let me tell you why...

You Must Erase "Alternative" from Alternative Energy

Let me dispel a myth. "Alternative"--as in alternative energy--isn't "alternative" anymore. It's going mainstream.

Over the past several years, FedEx, Staples, the Timberland Co., Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Macy's, Tiffany & Co, Toyota, Target, Lowe's, corporate behemoth Wal-Mart and even the U.S. Department of Defense have begun installing solar panels at their stores and facilities.

Now listen, I don't want you to be disillusioned. These companies aren't installing solar panels because they've suddenly become concerned about global warming.

No, they've installed solar panels because it'll reduce their electric bills by as much as 90% each month.

That's what's driving the boom in solar energy.

But it's a boom that still hasn't caught on with John Q. Investor.

In fact, the ordinary investor doesn't have a clue about the potential in these stocks. Let me explain...

It wasn't that long ago that I attended the Solar Power Conference and Expo in Washington, D.C.

It's one of the largest, most influential future and clean energy conferences in America, where policymakers and leaders in the energy industries learn about the latest in solar technologies.

It was there that I had an epiphany.

You see, while attending a press conference with Senator Lamar Alexander (chairman of the subcommittee on energy) and three of the most powerful CEOs in the solar industry, I made an important and profitable discovery--one that has already made some investors a lot of money!

On that Friday afternoon, in a makeshift pressroom in the basement of the Hyatt Regency hotel, only eight journalists were meticulously taking notes.

Eight journalists! That's it!

That's when I realized the average investor is still clueless as to just how lucrative this market is.

But that's OK. Because while these guys sleep through what is already shaping up to be one of the most profitable markets of the 21st century, a group of wise investors is making a fortune in solar.

In fact, the last solar manufacturer I recommended has already delivered gains of more than 245% in the past six months.

But I'm expecting even more from this next one.

Let me show you why, of all the publicly traded solar companies, this is the one you must own.

$40 to 50 billion in revenue by 2010

During the energy crisis of the 1970s, serious interest in solar technology took hold in the U.S. But due to prohibitive prices, large-scale applications were nearly impossible.

However, in 2008, with oil trading over $90 a barrel, interest in solar has returned. Only this time, PV is cost-effective.

In 1976, the average selling price per watt was about $100. Today it's significantly less. Take a look:

With such a drastic reduction in price, coupled with the ever-increasing price of oil, it's no wonder that both residential and industrial consumers are starting to flock towards solar alternatives.

In fact, since 2001, the global photovoltaic market has averaged about 40% annual growth. And this year alone, PV production is expected to reach 1.5 gigawatts, representing approximately $11 billion in revenue. That's double its level in 2003.

By 2010, analysts estimate global PV manufacturing will be sufficient to meet one third of new U.S. electric demand annually--representing $40 to 50 billion in revenue!

There's no doubt the PV business is booming.

Mother Nature is bullish on solar!

Something very important is going to happen this winter that's going to push the renewable energy market to new heights--especially solar!

This winter, Americans will pay nearly twice as much as they paid last year in heating bills.

And mark my words, when the first really nasty cold snap forces consumers (especially business owners) to jack their thermostats past 70, the market is going to warm up to solar, fast!

Here's why...

Over the past two years, the solar industry has hit new highs every time Mother Nature reminded us who's boss.

Last summer, for example, Arizona had record peak usage and almost maxed out capacity when the state endured record-breaking temperatures as high as 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

And only a few days after hurricane Katrina ripped New Orleans to shreds (and devoured its electrical grid), solar stocks soared.

Of course, these are two examples where Mother Nature's effect on energy supplies was relatively short-lived.

But a little later this year will be the beginning of at least three to four months of blistering cold weather--and overwhelming heating bills.

It will be a cold and hard wake-up call for most of the country when we finally realize that natural gas and fossil fuels are no longer cheap and abundant. And the reality of renewable energy is going to take hold more strongly than you've ever seen before.

And one company that's going to exploit this for everything it's worth is featured in my special report, SB-1 Energy Dividends.

In this report I outline why this solar company--with a market cap of just $220 million--stands to profit more than almost any other solar energy company on the planet.

Even when matched against industry giants like Sharp, Kyocera and BP Solar!

But you have to act fast.

Energy legislation is scorching hot on the Hill right now.

And the extension of the solar tax credit is right around the corner.

The last solar tax credit extension for just one year pushed solar through the roof.

Just imagine what this next eight-year extension's going to do!

Rest assured, this thing's going to get passed. And really, for no other reason than that every politician in Washington knows this one's a big-time vote-getter.

That's why I want you to buy this solar energy stock right now, before it goes up any further.

And that's why I want to offer you my latest report, SB-1 Energy Dividends, completely FREE of charge when you become a member of my cutting-edge investment service, Green Chip Stocks.

Let me explain...

Welcome to Green Chip Stocks

Green Chip Stocks represents the most important stocks traded today, for one simple reason--these are the stocks that will be the catalysts for the first real profit trend of the 21st century.

A profit trend that is already worth more than $30 billion in its infancy!

Grabbing your share now is like getting a piece of the automobile market back in 1908. And I don't mean just Ford, either. I'm talking about the market as a whole. Oil, rubber tires, road construction, etc.

Turning the Green Movement into Mountains of Greenbacks

Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff Siegel.

I worked for one of America's largest financial publishers 1994 to 2001, learning about the financial markets from some of the top investment minds in the world.

For the past six years, I've been traveling the world investigating the current state and the future of energy.

My travels have taken me to Rome, London, New York... and everywhere in between.

Now, I was taught that the time to invest in a stock or industry is when nobody is talking about it. You sell it when everybody is talking about it.

And that's why I'm writing to you today. Even though solar stocks are rising, the solar industry is where the oil industry was in 1920 -- it's still an infant!

I have a report I want to give you for joining my investment service, Green Chip Stocks.

The report is SB-1 Energy Dividends. This report features my favorite energy stock, the only publicly-traded solar panel company in America.

Now trading for less than $9 a share, I think this stock is a potential blockbuster that could return over 200% in just 12 months.

Simply fill out your membership form and I'll immediately send you a username and password that'll give you access to the report.

Plus, when you join Green Chip Stocks, you'll receive my members-only weekly letter, which updates you on current positions and alerts you to new stocks I'm recommending.

So, you get the report, SB-1 Energy Dividends, plus 52 issues of Green Chip Stocks.

Not a bad deal... for just $79 a year.

Especially when you consider our track record.

The fact is, we were the first to launch this kind of service focusing strictly on "green" markets.

And we were the first to bring our readers stocks like XsunX (XSNX.OB), which we sold for a 545.95% gain, and Regi U.S. (RGUS.OB), which we sold for a 218% gain, and Wild Oats (OATS:NASDAQ), which we sold for a 74.5% gain.

For less than $0.22 a day, you just can't beat gains like that!

If at any time you're not completely satisfied with the quality of service and commentary offered, simply cancel before 30 days and I'll refund every penny.

And this next one--our $8 solar installation stock--is already shaping up to be our next triple-bagger.

So don't wait.

Get it now while it's still trading below $8.

Washington's Tremendous Pull on Your Money

The results are in for the two-day Federal Open-Market Committee meeting, where Ben Bernanke and the rest of the Fed eggheads set interest rates. This time, no one expected them to make a move on rates, and the Fed did not disappoint ― rates were held the same.

In the simple press release that followed, we learned the Fed's intentions remain the same. Its quantitative easing (QE) plans ― that is the Fed's buying of Treasuries to goose the economy ― have not been expanded, nor have they been fully implemented. But if the economy forces their hand, they will!

After the Fed announcement, the dollar immediately sold off against the euro and the pound.

The end of June brought the third revision of the U.S. gross domestic product reading. It was revised to a slightly better figure than expected. In accordance with the trading patterns of late, strength returned to the dollar as its counterparts sold off strongly.

Then there was the massive Treasury auction, with a record number of Treasuries up for bid. Despite fears of no one showing up, the auction went off quite well. Bidding was strong and yields dropped from their recent highs. Of course, falling yields are bad for the dollar, so even though demand for U.S. investments held up, the dollar's value fell.

That put the focus back on the euro and the pound, which gave the dollar a nice beating. But then on Tuesday the U.K.GDP numbers came out worse than expected ― and once again the dollar was the shining star.

Dizzy yet?

The currencies just keep vacillating from strength to weakness. The problem is, every time they show more strength, they quickly back off. It is hatefully referred to as a churning market. Lots of movement, but no real direction.

Lots to consider: GDP from Canada; Case-Shiller Home Price Index, consumer confidence, the ADP Payroll numbers, continuing jobless claims and non-farm payroll here in the United States; and rate announcements from the United Kingdom and the European Central Bank.

But the numbers you should keep a close eye on this week are the Bureau of Labor Statistics' continuing jobless claims and the early holiday release of the non-farm payroll report (which is usually done on the first Friday of the month).

Crooked Math

Now, I'm not asking you to look at the numbers as a setup for a potential trade. It's just that the numbers will highlight something I've been saying all along.

Here's how it goes: The monthly report was expected to show a negative 350,000. That means we lost 350,000 jobs last month. However, the weekly figure will come in at a negative 600,000 (or so).

Funny, that. If have new jobless claims running at about 600K per WEEK, how can we only lose 350K jobs per MONTH?

Sometimes readers will complain about my politicizing the weekly wrap-ups in my newsletter. But doggone it, stuff like this really sticks in my craw. I have little confidence in the present administration, and I had little confidence in the last administration. And that's just the start of it. I believe the mess we are in is the product of the last 100 years of administrations.

For far too long, our leaders have paraded themselves around in the most expensive of accommodations, spent our money like it is as plentiful as dirt, presumed to make intelligent decisions, and foisted them on the public as such when, in truth, they are no brighter than the emperor in his "new clothes."

That bothers me. Immensely.

So when I complain about government intervention, I'm not specifically talking about the current occupiers of the White House or Capitol. (It just so happens the current administration has been big on intervention.)

For example, I've been asked what I meant by "the repressive taxation being currently inflicted on the citizenry." "Where are the new taxes?" Essentially, I was being asked to point to a specific spending bill with accompanying taxes.

But that's not exactly what I meant. My point was ― and continues to be ― this: whenever the "government" enacts a new law, it enacts a tax by default.

We have a current view of law that is "positivistic." In other words, rather than making laws that restrict, we make laws that propose. There's a huge difference. A negativistic view of the law is basically what we find in the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt NOT kill. Thou shalt NOT steal. Thou shalt NOT committ adultery. Each of them is negative or restrictive in nature.

Modern law, being positivistic, actually demands new behaviors. Thou shalt wear a helmet when riding a bicycle... Thou shalt wear a safety belt when riding in a car... Thou shalt provide insurance for former employees. Thou shalt produce cars with better gas mileage and friendlier emissions. Thou shalt purchase carbon credits for excessive pollution.

What's all this got to do with taxes? Well, it costs money to enforce and police the new standards of behavior. They must be enforced and policed upon the entire population. Whereas the old laws were only enforced upon the minority who were murderers or thieves. In any "civilized" society, they are a minority, and the cost to enforce the law upon them, if it is done right, is miniscule.

But when you must police and enforce behavior across an entire population, the costs increase exponentially. That's why with every new bill that is pushed out by Congress, taxes must go up. Unless we believe the Polyannic line that they will cut costs over here to pay for new "programs" over there!

Finally, without exception, I believe any taxation above 9.9% in toto is repressive and draconian. Only God is great enough to require 10%. [Any government that requires more has a lot of nerve ― ed.]

Now, I say all that for this reason: These government statistics do not add up. When they don't, we know they must be manipulated. If a government will manipulate its currency (which is downright theft), manipulating some monthly numbers will not cost them any sleep at night. And this month, at least in the weekly and monthly job figures, it will be out there for everyone to see who will look at it.

How does this play into your investment strategy? Well, if you were purely a technical trader, you'd say it doesn't factor in at all. Technical traders only watch the charts and price action. Their mantra is, "Price action tells the whole story of the market."

Now, I believe charts and price action have their place, but I would argue that it's been stunted by the recent market. What should be good news for the dollar has often turned out to be bad news, and vice versa. Thus, if a trader is watching price action only, he would just be able to react to the markets reaction to the news, rather than trading what he thinks the market ought to do. So that's why I think this kind of top-down, fundamental analysis should have a role in looking for investment opportunities.

And those fundamentals include studying the policies ― and contradictions ― spewing from the government.

Truer words…

Bill will be back next week, too, with a very special episode of Whiskey & Gunpowder. Be sure to tune in Monday.

Gary,
 
While reading yesterday's Whiskey I noted that Dan referred to Kris Sayce, who explained about the Fed feeding banks money, who in turn is lending that money which is causing inflation.  I agree, but only to an extent.  Fact is, banks aren't lending so much, they're hoarding a lot more, and indeed they should, because they know the subprime mess is only the beginning of bad loans they've made.  The alt-A loans aren't looking good, and we should see plenty of foreclosures on those by 2012, and of course the commercial loans are looking worse with each passing day, so I highly suspect that the Fed's money, for which we taxpayers are on the hook, will increasingly be hoarded by the banks, but it won't be enough, and we are a long way from seeing any bottom to anything.
 
A small farm is looking better to me with each passing day.

Yes. Just think of it…all those dollars building up against the banks' dikes. And back in May, 2008, Addison Wiggin and Ian Mathias sounded the alarm about those coming foreclosures in T he 5-Minute Forecast.

Yep, that farm is looking better. Or maybe a spaceship…

Gary,
 
Better late (to the party) than never.  Our family "discovered" Firefly on DVD a few years ago.  It appealed equally to both generations and we all love the writing and the characters.
 
Firefly is the only TV series on DVD that makes me angry as I watch the last episodes: angry that there are no more to watch!  It still boggles the mind that Fox would have canned it.  Serenity doesn't quite count as "more" for me, though I'll take what I can get.
 
Reading your comments on Firefly made me smile this morning - and not much can do that these days.  Thanks for the unexpected lift, fellow Browncoat!

My pleasure! (I agree with you about Serenity.)

I came late to the party, too. And I know the anger of which you speak.

Despite rumors to the contrary, I'm not often given to fantasies of violent retribution, but when I think of those dunderheads in expensive suits at Fox headquarters…canceling Firefly… I long for just fifteen minutes alone with those people to let them know somatically of my displeasure.

So the world goes, however. If they can knock down the original Pennsylvania Station in New York and then have the gall to put up that monstrous replacement, then nothing is sacred and any wretched thing is possible.

It's symptomatic of the times, Shooters. Whiskey tenet #2: the world goes to hell…regularly. But these last few decades are unprecedented in their cruddiness. The entire 20th Century can be summed up as one gargantuan experiment in centralized planning, fiat currency and plasticization, of replacing the real with the false, the proliferation of the impermanent and tawdry.

Contributor Don Stott said it all very well recently on his website's column…

"I remember American cities without slums.  Bad neighborhoods, yes, but not slums.  I remember Los Angeles before freeways, with crystal clear air, when the Pacific Electric ran hundreds of fast trains every day on thousands of miles of track, without causing traffic jams and pollution.  I remember when America imported no oil from the Arabs, and had enough of its own.  Naturally, this was before freeways and the interstates.  I remember America with no interstates, and fast, deluxe passenger trains which ran from LA to Chicago in 39 hours with lush staterooms and gorgeous dining cars which served gourmet food.  I remember two-lane US highways which went through all towns, big and small.  I toured America at age 18 in a 1941 Plymouth, and including gas, motels, and food, did it for about $5 a day.  I remember American cities with streetcar lines and no television.  I loved, and still do love radio."

Intact cities, free of the tyranny of the automobile, with passenger rail service to be proud of… It's a sentiment of which fellow Whiskey contributor and my mentor James Howard Kunstler would approve…from the other side of the political spectrum too, mind you. They may have very different views on Ron Regan, but both Don and Jim know the reek of decline when they smell it.

(We'll be hearing more about that reeking decline in a letter from Mr. Kunstler next week…and those of you who signed up for the Annual Agora Financial Investment Symposium will also be seeing Jim on the Whiskey Bar panel. If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late.)

Gary,
 
I couldn't put my finger on it before, but I had a good hunch that you were "the real deal".  To find out that you consider Firefly to be the best television series made by humans, clarified everything.  Would it be safe to bet that you are a Robert Heinlein fan, as well?

Thanks. And that would be a very safe bet.

I find out everything I need to know about a person with just two very far-reaching criteria: a) how he or she treats helpless animals; b) whether or not he or she is a fan of "Firefly." I make allowances for those who haven't heard of it or seen it, much like God does in the case of the gospel.

Lastly: Did you know that your editor is on Facebook? Well, at least one of you Shooters found me. Now he and I are friends. The rest of you stop on by! Be privy to the fascinating minutia that is the life of your Whiskey editor…like my zany laundry day mix-ups and crafty avoidance of government snipers. Click here!

You don't have to go to my Facebook page to find out that my next appointment is with a bottle of Maker's Mark. I'll just tell you that right now.