By
Tim Beyers
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More Articles
August 26, 2008
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Where will you find the best solar plays? Motley Fool CAPS ranks the top five thusly:
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Solar Power Stocks
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CAPS stars
(5 max)
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AXT (Nasdaq: AXTI )
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*****
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ReneSola (NYSE: SOL )
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*****
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Amtech Systems
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*****
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FPL Group (NYSE: FPL )
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*****
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Yingli Green Energy (NYSE: YGE )
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*****
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Note: Data current as of Aug. 8, 2008.
Notice which companies don't make this list. Suntech Power (NYSE: STP ) , a top growth stock and a Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick, rates five stars in CAPS but isn't in the top five here. LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK ) reported outstanding quarterly results earlier this month but merits only four stars.
So be it. In investing, where you look is just as important as what you find. And I think I've found something interesting: An up-and-coming solar play in a British defense contractor called QinetiQ Group (OTC BB: QNTQY.PK).
QinetiQ on Sunday said that its unmanned propeller-driven aircraft, the Zephyr, had flown uninterrupted for 83 hours and 37 minutes. That's more than double the record set by a Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC ) aircraft in 2001. Here's the catch: Zephyr is a solar-powered plane; its wings are covered in silicon arrays. Collected energy is stored in lithium sulfur batteries, News.com reports.
Interestingly, this isn't the first time QinetiQ has been involved in a solar project. The company's most recent financial report provides details of a solar-powered rocket engine created for the European Space Agency (ESA). This "ion" engine, as it's called, will help propel the ESA's soon-to-be launched GOCE Earth explorer into orbit for a detailed study of our planet's gravitational field.
Best of all: QinetiQ sells its American depositary receipts on the Pink Sheets -- a perfectly reasonable place for finding top foreign bargains -- and has a history of producing generous amounts of free cash flow, a rarity for most of the young solar pure plays.
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