Best Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014

Last week, the Cleantech Group and�Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. co-released their 2013 Clean Energy Patent Growth Index, which tracks clean energy patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The index is meant to�depict a trajectory of innovative activity in the clean energy sector.�Among its highlights:�

Solar, with 965 patents, was the No. 1 technology, overtaking fuel cells. And each year, the technology commands a greater share of patent activity:

Image credit: Clean Energy Patent Growth Index.

The United States was, by far, the No. 1 awarded country, with 556 of those 965 patents (56%). The United States' proportion of solar patents (56%) outsized its proportion of non-solar clean energy patents (45% ex-solar). Japan, projected to be 2014's No. 2 solar market, came in second with 107 patents (17%) awarded.� China, 2014's No. 1 projected solar market, amassed just 18 patents in 5th place.� Germany, to which the solar industry owes much for its rate of advancement, placed 4th.

Potential home-court advantage aside, the numbers indicate the U.S. is and will continue to be the hub for solar innovation, which is why SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWR  ) and First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR  ) warrant consideration for any solar investor. SunPower, which touts the highest-efficiency commercially available panels has long demonstrated its R&D prowess. In 2013, SunPower took home second solar prize with 28 patents awarded (compared to 10 for First Solar).�

Best Clean Energy Stocks To Invest In 2015: Sigma Designs Inc.(SIGM)

Sigma Designs, Inc. provides integrated system-on-chip solutions (SoC) for the Internet protocol television (IPTV), media processor, connected home and media player, prosumer and industrial audio/video, high definition television, and PC-based add-in markets. The company offers semiconductors with a suite of real-time software that enables synchronous processing of video, audio, and graphics streams for various applications. Its media processor product line represents a family of SoC solutions that are a component of multiple consumer applications, which process digital video and audio content comprising IPTV, connected media players, and portable media players. The company?s home networking product line consists of wired networking solutions based on HomePNA, HomePlug AV, and G.hn standards, as well as wireless connectivity solutions based on Ultra-wideband technology. Its standards are used for transferring Internet protocol content across coaxial cables, phone lines, a nd power lines to enable service providers to deliver IPTV solutions and other media-rich applications. The company?s video image processor product line comprises of semiconductors that provide video output for professional and prosumer applications. Its home control and energy management automation product line includes wireless transceiver devices along with a mesh networking protocol. The company offers its home connectivity products under the CopperGate; wireless connectivity solutions under the CoAir; video image processors under the VXP; and wireless transceiver devices under the Z-Wave brands. It also provides software elements, such as multimedia library, security management software, and porting adaptations. In addition, the company offers PC-based solutions. It sells its products through direct sales force, manufacturer representatives, and independent distributors primarily in Asia, Europe, and North America. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered i n Milpitas, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By GuruFocus]

  According to GuruFocus Insider Data, these are the largest CEO buys during the past week. The overall trend of CEOs is illustrated in the chart below:

  Sigma Designs, Inc. (SIGM): President & CEO Thinh Q Tran Bought 454,546 Shares

  President & CEO of Sigma Designs, Inc. (SIGM) Thinh Q Tran bought 454,546 shares on 12/20/2013 at an average price of $4.65. Sigma Designs, Inc., a California corporation was incorporated in January 1982. Sigma Designs, Inc. has a market cap of $160.902 million; its shares were traded at around $4.65 with and P/S ratio of 0.77.

• [By John Udovich]

  We have recently added small cap video chip stock Pixelworks, Inc (NASDAQ: PXLW) to our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO)�as it stands to benefit from the growth in connecting HD quality video across all mobile device platforms, as well as Smart TVs; but Silicon Image, Inc (NASDAQ: SIMG) and Sigma Designs, Inc (NASDAQ: SIGM) are also providing chips for the video or entertainment markets. Moreover, all three of these small cap stocks have recently reported earnings that might leave you feeling even more bullish.

Best Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Agilent Technologies Inc (A)

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Agilent), incorporated on May 5, 1999, is a measurement company providing bio-analytical and electronic measurement solutions to the communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis industries. During the fiscal year ended October 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), it had three business segments: electronic measurement business, chemical analysis business and life sciences business. Its electronic measurement business addresses the communications, electronics and other industries. Agilent�� chemical analysis business focuses on the petrochemical, environmental, forensics and food safety industries. Its life sciences business focuses on the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic and Government, bio-agriculture and food safety industries. In addition to its three businesses, it conducts research through Agilent Technologies Laboratories (Agilent Labs). In fiscal 2011, the Company acquired A2 Technologies, Lab901 and Biocius Life Sciences Inc. On December 21, 2011, the Company acquired BioSystem Development business and P.V.R. s.r.l., a vacuum pump manufacturer. In February 2012, the Company acquired software solutions and technology for device-level modeling and validation from Accelicon Technologies. In June 2012, the Company acquired cancer diagnostics company, Dako. In August 2012, the Company acquired Aurora SFC Systems, Inc.

Electronic Measurement Business

The Company�� electronic measurement business provides electronic measurement instruments and systems, software design tools and related services that are used in the design, development, manufacture, installation, deployment and operation of electronics equipment, and microscopy products. Related services include start-up assistance, instrument productivity and application services and instrument calibration and repair. It also offers customization, consulting and optimization services throughout the customer's product lifecycle. It sells products and services applicable to a rang! e of communications networks and systems, including wireless communications and microwave networks, voice, broadband, data, and fiber optic networks. Test products include Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, vector and signal analyzers, signal generators, vector network analyzers, one box testers, oscilloscopes, logic and protocol analyzers, and bit-error ratio testers.

The Company�� wireless communications and microwave network products include radio frequency and microwave test instruments and electronic design automation software tools. These products are required for the design and production of wireless network products, communications links, cellular handsets and base stations. It provides handheld products for the installation and maintenance of wireless networks. Its electronic design automation software tools and instruments are used by radio frequency integrated circuit design engineers to model, simulate and analyze communications product designs at the circuit and system levels.

The Company�� suite of fiber optic test products measure and analyze a range of optical and electrical parameters in fiber optic networks and their components. Components which can be tested with Agilent solutions include source lasers, optical amplifiers, filters and other passive components. Test products include optical component analyzers, optical power meters and optical spectrum analyzers. It sells the products into the general purpose test market, including general purpose instruments, modular instruments and test software, digital test products, semiconductor and board test solutions, electronics manufacturing test equipment, atomic force microscopes and radio frequency and network surveillance solutions. The Company�� general purpose products include spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, signal generators, logic analyzers, digitizing oscilloscopes, voltmeters, multimeters, frequency counters, bench and system power supplies, function generators and waveform synthesizers. Modular! instrume! nts and test software are used by the designers and manufacturers of electronic devices as the building blocks of systems that can be configured for a range of test applications.

The Company�� digital test products are used by research and development engineers across a range of industries to validate the function and performance of their digital product and system designs. These designs include a range of products from digital control circuits to high speed systems, such as computer servers and the gaming consoles. The test products offered include oscilloscopes, logic and serial protocol analyzers, logic-signal sources and data generators.

The Company�� semiconductor and board test solutions enable customers to develop and test semiconductors, test and inspect printed circuit boards, perform functional testing, and measure position and distance information to the sub-nanometer level. It is a supplier of parametric test instruments and systems used to examine semiconductor wafers during the manufacturing process. Its in-circuit test system helps identify quality defects, such as faulty or incorrect parts, that affect electrical performance. Its laser interferometer measurement systems provide precise position or distance information for dimensional measurements. Its atomic force microscopes (AFM) are imaging devices. An AFM allows researchers to observe and manipulate molecular and atomic level features. Its portfolio of AFM products provides customers with tools for a range of nanotechnology applications, including semiconductor, data storage, polymers, materials science and life science studies. The Company�� surveillance systems and subsystems are used by defense and government engineers and technicians to detect, locate and analyze signals of interest. The products offered include receivers for detecting radio frequency signals, probes for detecting wire line signals and software that enables the identification and analysis of these signals. Agilent's electronic measureme! nt custom! ers include contract manufacturers of electronic products, handset manufacturers and network equipment manufacturers who design, develop, manufacture and install network equipment, service providers who implement, maintain and manage communication networks and services, and companies who design, develop, and manufacture semiconductors and semiconductor lithography systems. Its customers use its products to conduct research and development, manufacture, install and maintain radio frequency, microwave frequency, digital, semiconductor, and optical products and systems and conduct nanotechnology research.

The Company competes with Aeroflex Incorporated, Anritsu Corporation, Ansys Corporation, EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering, Inc., National Instruments Corporation, Rohde & Schwartz GmbH & Co. KG, Spirent plc, Danaher Corporation, Bruker Corporation, LeCroy Corporation, Teradyne, Inc., Test Research Inc. and Zygo Corporation.

Chemical Analysis Business

The Company�� chemical analysis business provides application-focused solutions that include instruments, software, consumables and services that enable customers to identify, quantify and analyze the physical and chemical properties of substances and products. Its product categories in chemical analysis include gas chromatography (GC) systems, columns and components; gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) systems; inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) instruments; atomic absorption (AA) instruments; inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) instruments; software and data systems; vacuum pumps and measurement technologies; services and support for its products. Agilent provides custom or standard analyzers configured for specific chemical analysis applications, such as detailed speciation of a complex hydrocarbon stream, calculation of gas calorific values in the field, or analysis of a new bio-fuel formulation. It also offers related software, accessories and consumable ! products ! for these and other similar instruments. Its MS products incorporate technologies for measuring mass, including single-quadrupole, triple-quadrupole, and ion trap mass spectrometers. It combines its mass spectrometers with other instruments to instruments, such as GC/MS, and ICP-MS. It also offers related software, accessories and consumable products for these and other similar instruments. The Company�� spectroscopy instruments include atomic absorption (AA) spectrometers, inductively coupled plasma-optical emissions spectrometers (ICP-OES), inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometers (ICP-MS), fluorescence spectrophotometers, ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometers, Fourier Transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometers, near-infrared (NIR) spectrophotometers, Raman spectrometers and sample automation products. It also offers related software, accessories and consumable products for these and other similar instruments.

The Company�� vacuum technologies products are used to create, control, measure and test vacuum environments in life science, industrial and scientific applications where clean and vacuum environments are needed. Products include a range of vacuum pumps, including diffusion, turbomolecular and ion getter; intermediate vacuum pumps, including rotary vane, sorption and dry scroll, vacuum instrumentation, including vacuum control instruments, sensor gauges and meters, and vacuum components, including valves, flanges and other mechanical hardware. Its products also include helium mass spectrometry and helium-sensing leak detection instruments used to identify and measure leaks in hermetic or vacuum environments. The Company offers a range of services, including an exchange and rebuild program, assistance with the design and integration of vacuum systems, applications support and training in basic and advanced vacuum technologies. The Company offers a range of consumable products, which support its technology platforms, including sample preparation consumables, suc! h as soli! d phase extraction (SPE) and filtration products, self manufactured GC and LC columns, chemical standards, and instrument replacement parts. Consumable products also include scientific instrument parts and supplies, such as filters and fittings for GC systems; xenon lamps and cuvettes for UV-Vis-NIR, fluorescence, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy instruments; and graphite furnace tubes, hollow cathode lamps and specialized sample introduction glassware for its AA, ICP-OES and ICP-MS products.

The Company competes with Bruker Corporation, PerkinElmer Inc., Shimadzu Corporation and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Life Sciences Business

The Company�� life sciences business provides application-focused technologies and solutions, which include instruments, software, consumables and services. Its product categories include liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, microarrays, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) instrumentation, bioreagents, electrophoresis, software and informatics, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems, and, consumables and services. The Agilent liquid chromatograph (LC) portfolio is modular in construction and can be configured as analytical and preparative systems. Agilent's liquid chromatography/ mass spectrometer (LC/MS) portfolio includes instruments built around five analyzer types, such as single quadrupole, triple quadrupole, ion trap, time-of-flight (TOF) and quadrupole time-of-flight (QTOF). It is a provider of microarray-based, genomics research solutions. It provides products for sequencing platforms. Its portfolio of PCR instrumentation, reagents and kits, coupled with its other products, such as microarrays and target enrichment systems for sequencing, provides a range of workflow solutions to customers in the genomics marketplace.

Agilent is a supplier of electrophoretic separation solutions. The 2100 Bioanalyzer analyzes biomolecules or cells in microfluidic networks of channels and wells etched i! nto glass! chips. The 3100 OFFGEL Fractionator resolves proteins or peptides by isoelectric point with liquid-phase recovery. It provides software for instrument control, data acquisition, data analysis, laboratory content and business process management, and informatics. With OpenLab, Agilent has open architecture, which enables capture, analyze, and share scientific data throughout the lab and across the enterprise. It offers a range of consumable products, which support its LC, and MS technology platforms. These consumable products include sample preparation products; self manufactured LC columns and instrument replacement parts, and consumable supplies to meet its customers' analysis needs. It offers a range of startup, operational, educational and compliance support services for measurement and data handling systems. Its support services include maintenance, troubleshooting, repair and training for all of its chemical and bioinstrumentation analysis hardware and software products.

The Company competes with Affymetrix Inc., Bruker Corp., Danaher Corporation, Illumina, Inc., Life Technologies Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and Waters Corp.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) was also up, gaining 8.75 percent to $54.96 after the company reported an upbeat Q4 profit.

  Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Tile Shop Holdings (NASDAQ: TTS) were down 2.16 percent to $12.67. Citigroup downgraded Tile Shop from Buy to Neutral.

• [By Eric Volkman]

  Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A  ) results for the company's Q2 have been released. For the quarter, net revenue was flat on a year-over-year basis at $1.73 billion. Net profit, however, experienced a drop of 35% over that time frame, landing at $166 million ($0.48 per diluted share) from Q2 2012's $255 million ($0.72).

Best Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Basic Energy Services Inc. (BAS)

Basic Energy Services, Inc. provides various well site services to oil and natural gas drilling and producing companies in the United States. Its Completion and Remedial Services segment provides pumping services, such as cementing, acidizing, fracturing, coiled tubing, nitrogen, and pressure testing; rental and fishing tools; snubbing services; thru-tubing; cased-hole wireline services; and underbalanced drilling in low pressure and fluid sensitive reservoirs. This segment operates 228 pressure pumping units. It also operates 14 coiled tubing units; 49 air compressor packages; 12 wireline units; and 34 snubbing units. The company�s Fluid Services segment offers oilfield fluid supply, transportation, storage, and construction services, which comprise the transportation of fluids and salt water; sale and transportation of fresh and brine water; rental of portable frac tanks and test tanks; operation of company-owned fresh water and brine source wells and non-hazardous wast ewater disposal wells; and preparation, construction, and maintenance of access roads, drilling locations, and production facilities. This segment owns and operates 955 fluid services trucks with a fluid hauling capacity of up to 150 barrels apiece. Its Well Servicing segment provides various services performed with a mobile well servicing rig and ancillary equipment, such as maintenance work, hoisting tools and equipment required by the operation, and plugging and abandonment services, as well as manufactures and sells workover rigs. It operates a fleet of 425 well servicing rigs. The company�s Contract Drilling segment employs drilling rigs and related equipment to penetrate the earth to a desired depth and initiate production. This segment owns and operates 12 land drilling rigs. The company was formerly known as Sierra Well Service, Inc. and changed its name to Basic Energy Services, Inc. in 2000. Basic Energy Services, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is based in Fort Wort h, Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of oil and gas industry service company Basic Energy Services, Inc (NYSE: BAS  ) fell as much as 12% after reporting earnings.

Best Clean Energy Companies To Invest In 2014: Regency Energy Partners LP (RGP)

Regency Energy Partners LP (the Partnership), incorporated on September 8, 2005, is engaged in the gathering and processing, contract compression, treating and transportation of natural gas and the transportation, fractionation and storage of natural gas liquids (NGLs). The Partnership operates in five business segments: Gathering and Processing, Joint Ventures, Contract Compression, Contract Treating, and Corporate and Others. Its assets are primarily located in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, California, Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia and the mid-continent region of the United States, which includes Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma. In May 2013, Regency Energy Partners LP closed the acquisition of Southern Union Gathering Company, LLC from Southern Union Company. In February 2014, Regency Energy Partners LP closed its acquisition of the midstream business of Hoover Energy Partners LP.

During the year ended December 31, 2012, Lone Star NGL LLC (Lone Star), a newly formed joint venture that is owned 70% by Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (ETP) and 30% by the Partnership, acquired all of the membership interest in LDH Energy Asset Holdings LLC (LDH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy LLC. The Partnership focuses on providing midstream services in some of the most prolific natural gas producing regions in the United States, including the Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Barnett, Fayetteville, Marcellus, Bone Spring, and Avalon shales as well as the Permian Delaware basin and the mid-continent region. The Partnership provides wellhead-to-market services to producers of natural gas, which include transporting raw natural gas from the wellhead through gathering systems, processing raw natural gas to separate NGLs and selling or delivering the pipeline natural gas and NGLs to various markets and pipeline systems.

The Partnership owns and operates a fleet of compressors used to provide turn-key natural gas compression services for customer specific syst! ems. The Partnership owns and operates a fleet of equipment used to provide treating services, such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide removal, natural gas cooling, dehydration and BTU management, to natural gas producers and midstream pipeline companies.

Gathering and Processing Operations

The Partnership operates gathering and processing assets in four geographic regions of the United States: north Louisiana, the mid-continent region of the United States, south Texas and west Texas. The Partnership�� north Louisiana assets gather, compress, treat and dehydrate natural gas in five Parishes (Claiborne, Union, DeSoto, Lincoln and Ouachita) of north Louisiana and Shelby County, Texas. Its assets also include two cryogenic natural gas processing facilities, a refrigeration plant located in Bossier Parish, a conditioning plant located in Webster Parish, an amine treating plant in DeSoto Parish, and an amine treating plant in Lincoln Parish. The Partnership�� south Texas assets gather, compress, treat and dehydrate natural gas in LaSalle, Webb, Karnes, Atascosa, McMullen, Frio and Dimmitt counties. The pipeline systems that gather this gas are connected to third-party processing plants and its treating facilities that include an acid gas reinjection well located in McMullen County, Texas.

One of the Partnership�� treating plants consists of inlet gas compression, a 60 one million cubic feet per day amine treating unit, a 55 one million cubic feet per day amine treating unit and a 40 ton (per day) liquid sulfur recovery unit. In January 2012, it completed an expansion of the treating plant, adding an incremental 20 one million cubic feet per day of treating capacity to the facility. The Partnership owns a 60% interest in ELG that includes a treating plant in Atascosa County with a 500 gallons per minute amine treater, pipeline interconnect facilities and approximately 13 miles of ten inch diameter pipeline. Talisman Energy USA Inc. and Statoil Texas Onshore Pro! perties L! P own the remaining 40% interest. It operates this plant and the pipeline for the joint venture while its joint venture partner operates a lean gas gathering system in the Edwards Lime natural gas trend that delivers to this system.

The Partnership�� west Texas gathering system assets offer wellhead-to-market services to producers in Ward, Winkler, Reeves, and Pecos counties, which surround the Waha Hub. The NGL market outlets include Lone Star's west Texas NGL pipeline. It offers producers four different levels of natural gas compression on the Waha gathering system. The Waha processing plant is a cryogenic natural gas processing plant that processes raw natural gas gathered in the Waha gathering system. The Waha processing plant also includes an amine treating facility, which removes carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide from raw natural gas gathered before moving the natural gas to the processing plant.

The Partnership�� mid-continent region includes natural gas gathering systems located primarily in Kansas and Oklahoma. Its mid-continent gathering assets are extensive systems that gather, compress and dehydrate low-pressure gas from approximately 1,500 wells. These systems are geographically concentrated, with each central facility located within 90 miles of the others. The Partnership also owns the Hugoton gathering system that has approximately 1,875 miles of pipeline extending over nine counties in Kansas and Oklahoma. This system is operated by a third party. Its mid-continent systems are located in two natural gas producing regions in the United States, the Hugoton Basin in southwest Kansas and the Anadarko Basin in western Oklahoma.

Joint Ventures Operations

The Partnership owns investments in four joint ventures: a 49.99% general partner interest in RIGS Haynesville Partnership Co., a general partnership, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Regency Intrastate Gas LP (HPC); a 50% membership interest in MEP; a 30% membership interest in Lone St! ar, and a! 33.33% membership interest in Ranch JV. HPC owns RIGS, a 450-mile intrastate pipeline that delivers natural gas from northwest Louisiana to downstream pipelines and markets. MEP owns an interstate natural gas pipeline with approximately 500 miles stretching from southeast Oklahoma through northeast Texas, northern Louisiana and central Mississippi to an interconnect with the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line system in Butler, Alabama. Lone Star is an entity owning a diverse set of midstream energy assets, including NGL pipelines, storage, fractionation and processing facilities located in the states of Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Contract Compression Operations

The natural gas contract compression segment services include designing, sourcing, owning, installing, operating, servicing, repairing and maintaining compressors and related equipment. These field-wide applications include compression for natural gas gathering and natural gas processing. The Partnership�� contract compression operations are primarily located in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Pennsylvania and California.

Contract Treating Operations

The Partnership owns and operates a fleet of equipment used to provide treating services, such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide removal, natural gas cooling, dehydration and BTU management, to natural gas producers and midstream pipeline companies. Its contract treating operations are primarily located in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas.

The Company competes with PELICO Pipeline, LLC (Pelico), ETP, KMP, Chesapeake Midstream Partners, L.P., Enterprise Products Partners LP, DCP Midstream Partners, L.P., Copano Energy, L.L.C, Southern Union Gas Services, Targa Resources Partners L.P., ONEOK Partners L.P., Penn Virginia Resource Partners, L.P., CenterPoint Energy Transmission, Gulf South Pipeline, L.P., Texas Gas Transmission, LLC, Gulf Crossing Pipeline, Centerpoint Energy Gas Transmission and Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America, Ext! erran Hol! dings, Inc., Compressor Systems, Inc., USA Compression, Valerus Compression Services LP, J-W Energy Company, TransTex Gas Services, LP, Cardinal Midstream LLC, SouthTex Treaters, Interstate Treating Inc., Thomas Russell Co. and Spartan Energy Group.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Natural gas and gas liquids processor and distributor Regency Energy Partners (RGP) raised its quarterly dividend 6.7% to 47.5 cents per share, payable on Feb. 14 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 7. At more than 6%, RGP stock has the highest yield on this week’s list of dividend stock increases.
  RGP Dividend Yield: 6.91%