What happened
Two days after the stimulus package news broke, renewable energy stocks are still on a tear. As of 11:45 a.m. EST Wednesday, shares of Clean Energy Fuels Corp (CLNE -1.75%) are up 9.4%, Westport Fuel Systems (WPRT 0.45%) is up 10%, and Energy Fuels (UUUU) is exploding 13.5% higher.
What do these three stocks have in common? Well, Clean Energy Fuels supplies compressed and liquefied natural gas as fuel for vehicles, and Westport Fuel Systems designs vehicle engines that run on compressed and liquefied natural gas, so there's an obvious commonality there. Energy Fuels, however, is a miner of uranium for use in nuclear power plants, which is a bit of a different beast.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
And yet, broadly speaking, all three of these companies can be considered "alternative fuel stocks" -- because they help to provide alternatives to oil. And all three are expected to benefit from the renewable energy subsidies that Congress slipped into the coronavirus stimulus package it passed Monday night.
Clean Energy stock took off yesterday when it "applauded" Congress's decision to extend the $0.50 per gallon fuel credit for companies using renewable natural gas as a transportation fuel, and also the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit -- essentially a 30% rebate on purchases of alternative vehicle refueling hardware. Both these items can be expected to increase demand for Westport Fuel Systems' wares as well, which explains why that stock is moving today -- and why Clean Energy is moving even higher.
Now what
And now Energy Fuels -- the uranium miner -- has some applause of its own to share. Nearly one-third of the $35 billion in subsidies for alternative energy included in this week's stimulus bill was already earmarked for the nuclear sector, with The Washington Post putting the figure at $11 billion. TechCrunch specifies that $6.6 billion of this will go to support "modernization of existing nuclear power plants and the development of advanced reactors."
And today, Energy Fuels notes that in addition to the stimulus bill proper, Congress has just passed an omnibus appropriation bill that includes $75 million in funding for the "launch of the U.S. uranium reserve." As the self-proclaimed "number one uranium miner in the U.S. since 2017," Energy Fuels is the most likely and biggest beneficiary of this legislation, confirming that investors who bid up the stock two weeks ago, when the uranium reserve legislation first passed a committee vote in the Senate, were right to do so.
The double dose of good news -- subsidies for Energy Fuels' customers that should encourage them to buy more uranium, plus a direct cash injection from the U.S. government buying uranium on its own behalf -- are good reasons for energy fuels investors to rejoice today.
