Topic: How To Invest

Dear Pat: I would like your opinion on Evergreen Energy. I suspect you won’t like it, but I would appreciate your comment on the stock. Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Evergreen Energy, $3.75, symbol EEE on New York (Shares outstanding: 16.8 million; Market cap: $63.0 million; www.evgenergy.com), has developed two green technologies: K-Fuel and the GreenCert suite of software and services. Evergreen’s K-Fuel process takes high-moisture, low-heat-content coal and aims to use temperature and pressure to produce a lower-moisture, higher-heat, lower-emissions content coal. Evergreen believes that K-Fuel makes low-quality coals burn more efficiently, and lowers their emissions. GreenCert lets companies monitor their efficiency and greenhouse-gas emissions from energy, industrial and agricultural sources. GreenCert can also be used to create verifiable-emission reduction credits. Evergreen’s technologies have conceptual appeal, but the company has not yet made any sales. It has cash of $5.3 million, but also $21.9 million of debt. Moreover, the success of Evergreen’s marketing efforts and the effectiveness of its products is far from certain. We don’t recommend Evergreen Energy. Energy. …