Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What do you think of green-stock Vestas Wind Systems? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Vestas Wind Systems A/S, $47.70, symbol VWSYF on the Nasdaq over-the-counter bulletin board (Shares outstanding: 203.7 million; Market cap: $9.7 billion), is the world’s leading wind-turbine maker. The company’s main listing is on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange in Denmark. Vestas was founded in 1945 as a household-appliance maker. It started making wind turbines in 1979. Today, it controls roughly 23% of the global wind-turbine market. More than 35,500 of its turbines have been installed in 63 countries. Wind power is rarely competitive with other forms of energy due to variations in wind strength and technical problems. The wind power industry has still gone through substantial growth in recent years, thanks to subsidies. However, these subsidies face rising political opposition due to high budget deficits in a number of countries. Vestas faces a particularly uncertain future because 50% of its orders come from the subsidized European market. Vestas shares have dropped from about $78 earlier this year to today’s $47.70. They now…