Best Clean Energy Companies To Watch For 2015

The exportation of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, has been a hotly debated topic in the United States recently. Companies from all types of backgrounds have been staking their claims on either side of the argument. One thing is for certain, and that is that in 2015 Cheniere Energy (NYSEMKT: LNG  ) will begin exporting liquefied natural gas from its Department of Energy-approved Sabine Pass facility.��

Aside from the potential growth in exports from North America, Australia looks to be the largest contributor to the growth of natural gas finding its way into the international trade market. Transportation of natural gas chilled to temperatures as low as -260 degrees Fahrenheit certainly requires a high degree of skilled execution. That's where Teekay LNG Partners (NYSE: TGP  ) enters the picture. With a fleet much younger than the industry average and a distribution over 6%, it could be a great second-degree play on the coming trend.

If exports are allowed unchecked, will nat-gas prices negatively affect CLNE?
The movement toward alternative energy is gaining momentum. One potential opportunity in this field is Clean Energy Fuels, which focuses its natural gas efforts primarily on trucking and fleets. It's poised to make a big impact on an essential industry. Learn everything you need to know about Clean Energy Fuels in The Motley Fool's premium research report on the company. Just click here now to claim your copy today.

Hot European Stocks To Buy For 2016: Independent Film Development Corp (IFLM)

Independent Film Development Corporation (IFDC), incorporated on September 14, 2007, is in the development stage. The Company focuses on acquiring and developing independent films for production, sales and distribution, with a goal towards partnerships with mini-major and the major film studios, such as Lionsgate and Sony. IFDC�� focus of operations has three main components of film production and finance; Co-financing, acquiring product in the development stage, and its own film production. Co-financing is where a company such as IFDC goes out looking for films that are already financed at 50% or more. The Company licenses partially or fully completed films made by independent filmmakers to entertainment distributions companies.

The Company produces film on behalf of a studio. The Company identifies, produces, and secures distribution of a film. The Company owns the film in perpetuity and directly participates in all revenue generated by the film. The Company identifies films through its network of independent filmmakers as well as industry festivals and trade shows including Sundance, Tribeca, Cannes, and Toronto. The company will acquire the rights to license (as sales agent) films for a period of 7-25 years in return for a commission ranging from 10-30% of the licensing fees paid by the distributors.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  While�most investors probably overlook the theme park sector, theme park stocks like SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (NYSE: SEAS), Six Flags Entertainment Corp (NYSE: SIX), Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: FUN) and Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS: IFLM) have been producing returns ranging from being down 10.3% to up as much as 207.5% since the start of the year. Moreover, theme park stocks will remain active as consider the following news coming from important theme park stocks:

• [By James E. Brumley]

  On the battlefield, you can always tell when the commanding officer is close to beginning a major assault when he starts to move pieces of military hardware around to maximize their effectiveness in light of the battle plan. The same idea applies in the business world - when personnel additions are made, and people are moved around, it's usually the beginning of something big. That's why investors may want to prep themselves for something big from Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS:IFLM). The company placed a new CEO today after naming a CFO last week, and moved the previous CEO over to the lead role of real estate operations [which was always the plan]. So what? All these changes are an omen that IFLM is finally ready to begin its frontal assault on the likes of amusement park names such as Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE:FUN), or even against the venerable The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS). But nobody beats Walt Disney at its own game, you say? We'll see.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  There's a major shift in the kinds of things Americans do to entertain themselves. Just ask the folks at AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:AMCX), SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:SEAS), Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSK), and pretty soon, the Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS:IFLM). These organizations exist to keep their finger on the pulse of what makes entertainment-seeking consumers want, and it's clear from some of the programming choices and decisions these companies are making - and doing well with - that the companies who deliver the new, edgier product stand to earn the most revenue for doing so.

• [By James E. Brumley]

  When investors and/or consumers think of a theme park company, a name like Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE:SIX) or the quintessential The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) comes to mind. And well they should. Disney is easily the world's most popular amusement park purveyor, while many thrill-seekers say a Six Flags park is the place to go for the most intense thrill ride experience. Rarely - as in never - does a little independent film company sneak into the conversation regarding the world's top amusement parks. That may be about to change, however, if Independent Film Development Corporation (OTCMKTS:IFLM).

Best Clean Energy Companies To Watch For 2015: LendingClub Corp (LC)

LendingClub Corporation, incorporated on October 2, 2006, provides online marketplace connecting borrowers and investors. The Company operates an online market that connects borrowers looking for loans with individuals with the money to fund them. It lends money to help consumers pay off credit-card bills, consolidate debt and take vacations. Its platform enables customers in investing in and obtaining personal loans by providing financial data and credit information.

The Company provides search algorithm, credit decisioning, a secondary market, and a choice of loan durations. The Company serves the professional fixed income investors, such as family offices and insurance companies.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rana Pritanjali]

  Lending Club's (NYSE: LC  ) stock is up a stellar 66% since the company went public in December. The peer-to-peer lending specialist offers an alternative to the traditional banking system with an online platform for borrowers and lenders. It has a leading 40% share of the�peer-to-peer lending market, far outstripping No. 2 player�Prosper.com and its 8% market share.�

Best Clean Energy Companies To Watch For 2015: Xilinx Inc (XLNX)

Xilinx, Inc. (Xilinx), incorporated on February 5, 1984, designs, develops and markets programmable platforms. These programmable platforms have a number of components, including integrated circuits (ICs) in the form of programmable logic devices (PLDs), including Extensible Processing Platforms (EPPs); software design tools to program the PLDs; targeted reference designs; printed circuit boards, and intellectual property (IP), which consists of Xilinx and various third-party verification and IP cores. In addition to its programmable platforms, Xilinx provides design services, customer training, field engineering and technical support. The Company�� PLDs include field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs) that its customers program to perform logic functions, and EPPs. Xilinx�� products are offered to electronic equipment manufacturers in end markets, such as wired and wireless communications, industrial, scientific and medical, aerospace and defense, audio, video and broadcast, consumer, automotive and data processing. The Company sells its products globally through independent domestic and foreign distributors and through direct sales to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) by a network of independent sales representative firms and by a direct sales management organization. In January 2011, the Company acquired AutoESL Design Technologies, Inc. In August 2012, the Company acquired embedded Linux solutions provider PetaLogix.

Product Families

The 7 series devices that comprise the Company�� 28-nanometer (nm) product families are fabricated on a high-K metal gate 28-nm process technology. These devices are based on an architecture, which enables design and IP portability and re-use across all families, as well as provides designers the ability to achieve the appropriate combination of I/O support, performance, feature quantities, packaging and power consumption to address a range of applications. The 7 series devices consist of! three families: Virtex-7 FPGA, Kintex-7 FPGAs and Artix-7 FPGAs. The Zynq-7000 family is the family of Xilinx EPPs. The Virtex-6 FPGA family consists of 13 devices and is the sixth generation in the Virtex series of FPGAs.

Virtex-6 FPGAs are fabricated on a high-performance, 40-nm process technology. There are three Virtex-6 families: Virtex-6 LXT FPGAs, Virtex-6 SXT FPGAs and Virtex-6 HXT FPGAs. The Spartan-6 family is the PLD industry�� 45-nm high-volume FPGA family, consisting of 11 devices in two product families: Spartan-6 LX FPGAs and Spartan-6 LXT FPGAs. The Virtex-5 FPGA family consists of 26 devices in five product families: Virtex-5 LX FPGAs for logic-intensive designs, Virtex-5 LXT FPGAs for high-performance logic with serial connectivity, Virtex-5 SXT FPGAs for high-performance DSP with serial connectivity, Virtex-5 FXT FPGAs for embedded processing with serial connectivity and Virtex-5 TXT FPGAs for high-bandwidth serial connectivity. Prior generation Virtex families include Virtex-4, Virtex-II Pro, Virtex-II, Virtex-E and the original Virtex family. Spartan family FPGAs include 90-nm Spartan-3 FPGAs, the Spartan-3E family and the Spartan-3A family. Prior generation Spartan families include Spartan-IIE, Spartan-II, Spartan XL and the original Spartan family.

Design Platforms and Services

The Company offers three types of programmable platforms. The Base Platform is the delivery vehicle for all of its new silicon offerings used to develop and run customer-specific software applications and hardware designs. The Base Platform consists of FPGA silicon; Integrated Software Environment (ISE) Design Suite design environment; integration support of optional third-party synthesis, simulation, and signal integrity tools; reference designs; development boards and IP. The Domain-Specific Platform targets one of the three primary Xilinx FPGA user profiles: the embedded processing developer; the DSP developer; or the logic/connectivity developer. The Market-S! pecific P! latform enables software or hardware developers to build and run their specific application or solution. Built for specific markets, such as automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications, audio, video and broadcast, industrial, or scientific and medical, the Market-Specific Platform integrates both the Base and Domain-Specific Platforms.

During April 2012, Xilinx introduced the Vivado Design Suite. Vivado supports Xilinx 7 series FPGAs and Zynq EPPs. Xilinx and various third parties offer hundreds of no charge and fee-bearing IP core licenses covering Ethernet, memory controllers Interlaken and PCIe interface, as well as domain-specific IP in the areas of embedded, DSP and connectivity, and market-specific IP cores. The Company also offers development kits, including hardware, design tools, IP and reference designs. Xilinx offers a range of configuration products, including one-time programmable and in-system programmable storage devices to configure Xilinx FPGAs. These programmable read-only memory (PROM) products support all of the Company�� FPGA devices. Xilinx and certain third parties have developed and offer a ecosystem of IP, boards, tools, services and support through the Xilinx alliance program. Xilinx also works with these third parties to promote its programmable platforms through third-party tools, IP, software, boards and design services. Xilinx engineering services provide customers with engineering, ranging from hands-on training to full design creation and implementation.

The Company competes with Altera Corporation, Lattice Semiconductor Corporation and Microsemi Corporation.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By ovenerio]

  In this article, let's take a look at Xilinx Inc. (XLNX), a $11.04 billion market cap company, which is one of the world's leading suppliers of programmable logic chips and related development system software.

• [By kcpl]

  Altera�(ALTR)'s performance has been weak as shares are down almost 9% so far this year as compared to peers such as Xilinx (XLNX) and Lattice Semiconductor.

• [By Riddhi Kharkia] rd and maintain its streak of impressive performances.

  Beating competition

  Altera's performance in the recently reported first quarter was much better than Xilinx. Its revenue grew 12% year-over-year to $461 million, comprehensively ahead of the $438 million consensus target. Earnings, meanwhile, came in at $0.37 per share, while analysts were looking for $0.32.

  Altera's outlook was also strong. The company expects revenue in the range of $470 million-$488 million in the ongoing quarter, blowing past the $461 million estimate. In comparison, rival Xilinx's performance left a lot to be desired. The company's earnings missed estimates, and its revenue outlook for the current quarter also lagged expectations, as it saw a drop in orders from a couple of large communication customers.

  Hence, Altera seems to be executing better than Xilinx. Going forward, considering Altera's product development efforts, there's a strong chance that it will be able to overtake Xilinx in the programmable logic devices market.

  Fresh products

  Altera's new products now account for almost half of its total revenue. The 28-nanometer process has been the primary driver for Altera so far, and the company seems to have successfully taken away some market share from Xilinx in this area. While Xilinx cited delays in LTE deployment as the reason behind its sluggish performance in the previous quarter, Altera was singing a different tune.

  In fact, the roll out of LTE by China Mobile (CHL) resulted in 20% sequential growth in Altera's wireless business. In addition, Altera is also counting on the growing adoption of 3G in India and other developing countries to propel its business higher.

  The company's focus on making its production processes more efficient has helped it land some solid design wins. Altera has already started sampling its 20-nanometer process with customers, extending its chip portfolio further. However, it is the 14-nanometer Fin

• [By Michael Flannelly]

  Programmable logic solutions provider Xilinx, Inc. (XLNX) was upgraded by analysts at Pacific Crest early on Monday, as the company should benefit from the LTE upgrade in China.

  The analysts upgraded XLNX from “Sector Perform” to “Outperform” and see shares reaching $55. This price target suggests an 18% upside to the stock’s Friday closing price of $46.54.

  Xilinx shares were inactive during pre-market trading on Monday. The stock is up 29.78% year-to-date.

Best Clean Energy Companies To Watch For 2015: Rentech Inc (RTK)

Rentech, Inc. (Rentech), incorporated in 1981, is a provider of clean energy solutions. The Company owns and operates a nitrogen fertilizer plant in East Dubuque, Illinois, that manufactures and sells natural gas-based nitrogen fertilizer products within the corn-belt region in the United States. It is developing energy projects to produce certified synthetic fuels and electric power from carbon-containing materials, such as biomass, waste and fossil resources. Its technologies can produce synthesis gas (syngas) from biomass and waste materials, and convert syngas from its own or other gasification technologies into complex hydrocarbons (the Rentech Process) that are then upgraded into fuels using refining technology that it licenses. In addition to developing projects using these technologies, it is pursuing the licensing of its technologies to developers of projects that are expected to produce fuels and/or power. In May 2011, it acquired majority interest in ClearFuels Technology Inc. In May 2013, Rentech Inc acquired the entire share capital of Fulghum Fibres Inc. In August 2013, Rentech Inc announced that a subsidiary of the Company closed the sale of approximately 450 acres in Natchez, Mississippi to Adams County, Mississippi.

The Rentech Process is a technology based on Fischer-Tropsch (FT) chemistry, which converts syngas that can be produced from a range of biomass, waste and fossil resources into hydrocarbons. These hydrocarbons can be processed and upgraded into synthetic fuels, such as military and commercial jet fuels and low sulfur diesel fuel, as well as waxes and chemicals. Unlike some other alternative transportation fuels, such as ethanol, fuels produced from the Rentech Process can be transported and used in existing infrastructure, including pipelines and engines without blending restrictions. Its technology portfolio also includes the Rentech-SilvaGas biomass gasification technology (the Rentech-SilvaGas Technology), which enables it to offer integrated technologies t! hat can convert biomass and wastes to syngas and into clean fuels and electric power.

The Rentech Process can produce synthetic diesel fuels (RenDiesel1 fuels), which are clean burning having lower emissions of regulated pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter, than traditional petroleum-based diesel fuels. The Rentech Process also can produce synthetic jet fuel (RenJet fuel), which when blended with conventional jet fuel meet jet fuel specifications for military jet fuel and commercial Jet A and Jet A-1 fuels. It is developing a proposed project near Natchez, Mississippi (the Natchez Project) designed to produce approximately 30,000 barrels per day of synthetic fuels and chemicals and approximately 120 megawatts of power. It is evaluating alternative configurations for the Natchez site, which would initially be smaller in scale. The alternate configurations may use various feed-stocks alone or in various combinations, and include proportions of waxes and chemicals as products.

The Company owns, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Rentech Energy Midwest Corporation (REMC), a nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing plant that uses natural gas as its feedstock to produce syngas and then nitrogen fertilizer products. The products, the Company can produce include renewable synthetic diesel and jet fuels, naphtha and power from biomass resources; synthetic diesel and jet fuels, naphtha and power from fossil or fossil and biomass resources, and paraffinic waxes, solvents and specialty chemicals.

The Company competes with ExxonMobil, the Royal Dutch/Shell group, Statoil, BP and Sasol.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Robert Rapier] While the MLP space is dominated by the oil and gas sector, in last week’s article we began to explore some of the more exotic master limited partnership offerings. This week we continue our exploration of nontraditional MLPs by looking at the partnerships supplying fertilizer.
  
  Rentech (Nasdaq: RTK) has been around for more than a decade, and it has shifted strategies several times. Full disclosure: Rentech’s Chief Technology Officer Harold Wright is a former manager of mine when we were both at ConocoPhillips, and I have visited Rentech’s facility in Commerce City, Colorado.
  
  For most of Rentech’s existence, the company has sought to commercialize alternative fuels. At one time it had ambitions to build a large coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant, but federal legislation ultimately nudged it instead into the biomass-to-liquids (BTL) space. The company did build a BTL demonstration plant, but ultimately shut it down and has now refocused its efforts on becoming “one of the largest wood processing companies in the world.”
  
  During its interesting journey as a company, Rentech acquired two ammonia nitrogen fertilizer facilities, which turned out to be a profit center that funded the alternative energy research. In November 2011, Rentech spun off this fertilizer business into an MLP called Rentech Nitrogen Partners LP (NYSE: RNF).
  
  In the months leading to the spin-off, RTK’s market capitalization was about $200 million. Rentech maintained 60 percent ownership of RNF, and three months after the spin-off RTK’s market cap had risen to $400 million, while investors had bid RNF up to $1 billion. Interestingly, RTK’s share of RNF was worth more than RTK’s entire market cap, a situation that persists. The market currently values Rentech at $482 million, while the valuation of Rentech Nitrogen Partners makes RTK’s 60 percent stake in RNF worth slightly more than $600 million — another illu
• [By Rich Duprey]

  Alternative energy specialist�Rentech� (NASDAQ: RTK  ) �will be�buying back�up to $25 million worth of company stock through the rest of the year, the board of directors announced Monday.

• [By Travis Hoium]

  What: Shares of fertilizer and renewable energy company Rentech (NASDAQ: RTK  ) jumped 17% today after the company announced an acquisition.

Best Clean Energy Companies To Watch For 2015: Fleetcor Technologies Inc (FLT)

FleetCor Technologies, Inc. (FleetCor) is an independent global provider of specialized payment products and services to businesses, commercial fleets, oil companies, petroleum marketers and government entities in countries throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company processed more than 215 million transactions on its networks and third-party networks. The Company operates in two segments: North American and International segments. The Company provides its payment products and services in a variety of combinations to create payment solutions for its customers and partners. In August 2011, the Company acquired Mexican prepaid fuel card and food voucher business based in Mexico City, Mexico. On December 13, 2011, the Company acquired Allstar Business Solutions Limited, a fleet card company based in the United Kingdom. In July 2012, the Company acquired a Russian fuel card company. In July 2012, the Company acquired CTF Technologies, Inc.

The Company uses third-party networks to deliver its payment programs and services. In order to deliver its payment programs and services and process transactions, it owns and operates closed-loop networks through which it electronically connects to merchants and captures, analyzes and reports information. The Company also provides a range of services, such as issuing and processing. The Company markets its payment products directly to a range of commercial fleet customers, including vehicle fleets of all sizes and government fleets. Among these customers, it provides its products and services to small and medium commercial fleets. The Company also manages commercial fleet card programs for oil companies, such as British Petroleum (BP) (including its subsidiary Arco), Chevron and Citgo, and over 800 petroleum marketers.

The Company sells a range of fleet and lodging payment programs directly and indirectly through partners, such as oil companies and petroleum marketers. It provides it! s customers with various card products that function like a charge card to purchase fuel, lodging and related products and services at participating locations. The Company supports these cards with issuing, processing and information services that enable it to manage card accounts, facilitate the routing, authorization, clearing and settlement of transactions. The Company provides these services in a variety of outsourced solutions ranging from an end-to-end solution (consisting issuing, processing and network services) to limited back office processing services.

In addition, the Company offers a telematics solution in Europe that combines global positioning, satellite tracking and other wireless technology to allow fleet operators to monitor the capacity utilization and movement of their vehicles and drivers. The Company offers prepaid fuel and food vouchers and cards in Mexico that may be used as a form of payment in restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations. Approximately 10.4% of its revenue during the year ended December 31, 2011 came from its lodging and telematics products.

During 2011, the Company owns and operates eight closed-loop networks in North America and internationally. Fuelman network is the Company�� primary fleet card network in the United States. Corporate Lodging Consultants network (CLC) is the Company�� lodging network in the United States and Canada. The CLC Lodging network covers more than 17,700 hotels across the United States and Canada. Commercial Fueling Network (CFN) is the Company�� members only unattended fueling location network in the United States and Canada. Keyfuels network is the Company�� primary fleet card network in the United Kingdom.

CCS network is the Company�� primary fleet card network in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Petrol Plus Region (PPR) network is the Company�� primary fleet card network in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Mexican network is the Company�� fuel! and food! card and voucher network in Mexico. Allstar network is the Company�� fleet card network in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the Company issues corporate cards that utilize the MasterCard payment network, which includes 176,000 fuel sites and 398,000 maintenance locations across the country. The networks of locations owned by the Company�� oil and petroleum marketer partners in both North America and internationally are utilized to support the card programs of these partners.

UNION TANK Eckstein GmbH & Co. KG (UTA) operates a network of over 46,000 fleet card-accepting locations across 38 countries throughout Europe, including more than 31,000 fueling sites. DKV operates a network of over 45,000 fleet card-accepting locations across 36 countries throughout Europe, including more than 30,500 fueling sites. In Mexico, the Company issues fuel cards and food cards that utilize the Carnet payment network, which includes approximately 8,700 fueling sites and 78,890 food locations across the country.

The Company competes with Wright Express Corporation, Comdata Corporation, U.S. Bank Voyager Fleet Systems Inc., Edenred and Sodexo, Inc.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Louis Navellier]

  Editor�� note: This column is part of our Best Stocks for 2014 contest. Louis Navellier’s pick for the contest is FleetCor Technologies (FLT).

• [By Steve Sears]

  New stocks in what Goldman calls the “Hedge Fund VIP list,”�include Actavis (ACT), Baidu (BIDU), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), Crown Castle International (CCI), Entergy Louisiana (ELB), �Equinix (EQIX), Facebook (FB), Fleetcor Technologies (FLT), W.R. Grace (GRA), MetLife (MET), Macquarie Infrastructure (MIC), Micron (MU), Time Warner Cable (TWC), and Time Warner (TWX).

• [By Rich Smith]

  Moving quickly to establish synergies on its Australian purchase of Fleet Card from General Electric (NYSE: GE  ) last month, Norcross, Ga.-based FleetCor (NYSE: FLT  ) is buying another fuel card-issuing and payment-processing business right next door.

Best Clean Energy Companies To Watch For 2015: Papa John's International Inc.(PZZA)

Papa John?s International, Inc. operates and franchises pizza delivery and carryout restaurants under the Papa John?s trademark worldwide. The company also operates dine-in and restaurant-based delivery restaurants in certain international markets. As of December 25, 2011, the company operated 3,883 Papa John?s restaurants consisting of 628 company-owned and 3,255 franchised restaurants in 50 states of the United States and 32 countries. Papa John?s International, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Justin Loiseau]

  Papa's got a brand new bag
  Papa John's (NASDAQ: PZZA  ) founder and CEO John Schnatter is no fan of Obamacare. After the Affordable Care Act was first proposed, Schnatter told shareholders he expected the new legislation to cost his company around $5 million to $8 million a year, costing the company $0.11 to $0.14 more per pizza..�When asked by a reporter what he thought franchisees would do to cover costs, Schnatter predicted that owners would work around the Act by cutting employee hours to disqualify them from company coverage. (Read more on the exchange here.)

• [By Tom Taulli]

  Competition: Yum certainly has many tough rivals, such as Domino�� (DPZ), Chipotle (CMG), Chick-fil-A and McDonald�� (MCD). And competition in the Chinese market has been heating up as well. Discos, a Taiwan-based fried chicken operator, has been getting lots of traction — with more than 2,000 stores in China. There has also been pressure from Papa John’s (PZZA) and Bellagio Caf茅.