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Opening Segment #2:
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'CEO
Interview'
'Green
Giant?'
Andrew
Littlefair,
CEO |
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Thursday,
November 20, 2008 |
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Jim's
rating on
this stock |
STOCK
SYMBOL |
Closing
price that
day |
Full Company Name |
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CLNE |
3.49 |
Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
(CLNE)
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Jim:
It's "Green Week" on
CNBC... a time to
reflect, for me, on
missed
opportunities,
botches, and things
that I believed in
that worked for a
bit, and made you a
lot of quick money,
and then ended... a
green thesis that
didn't work out.
And one of them was
natural gas as a
fuel... an
alternative fuel for
autos. This is part
of the Pickens Plan.
It's part of the
Cramer Plan too, as
natural gas is
cleaner than oil.
And, unlike oil,
which is in all the
most inhospitable
places, we're
sitting on top of
immense natural gas
reserves...
We initially
recommended
Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
(CLNE)
as a speculation...
CLNE, a company that
makes natural gas
fueling stations...
on August 1st, with
the stock at $13.79.
Then, that was good,
right?... That made
money (as it rose to
near $20 from
there)... Then,
again, on September
10th, at $18.07,
because we thought
the bill was going
to pass in
California.
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Continued below...
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Thursday,
November 20, 2008
(Cont'd from
above)...
Jim (cont'd):
That's when we
talked to the
company's CEO,
Andrew Littlefair.
Since then,
Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
(CLNE)
has been crushed
beyond all
recognition. It's
now a $3.49 name,
and it is not solace
to me that many
other stocks have
been crushed.
I've got to figure
out why...
There was an article
in this morning's
Wall Street Journal
about how utilities
are cutting funding
for clean energy
projects... solar,
wind, nuclear...
because they're as
fearful as everyone
else about opening
up their pockets...
because, you know,
oil's under $50 (a
barrel) so it
destroyed a lot of
the thesis, okay...
If these are all
suffering, then that
can't be good news
for natural gas...
The public also
doesn't seem to be
buying it at all.
Voters in California
rejected Prop. 10,
which would have
raised $2.9 billion
to support the
purchase of natural
gas vehicles over
the next 10 years.
The political class
isn't being
supportive either.
Lawmakers aren't
embracing this
cleaner and
cheaper-than-oil
fuel like I thought
they would... Hey, I
got it completely
wrong.
CLNE reported an
inline quarter back
on November 13th.
The company has cash
it raised through
selling $35 million
worth of stock at
$7.92 a share, and
warrants exercisable
at $13.50. Its
California port
initiative is
working well.
None of that stopped
the stock from
collapsing...
Even CLNE, with
about $1.50 of cash
per share, is
trading just $2
above its cash, this
is not one of those
cases where you can
buy the stock
because of its
cash... CLNE has a
cash balance of $66
million. But it has
a (cash) burn rate
of $15 million a
quarter, so the
company really has
four or five
quarters worth of
cash, which means
it's absolutely not
a value prospect.
It may be that
political support
was key to the
company's high
valuation, or that
it's been a victim
of hedge fund
selling gone wild...
I want to know if
natural gas fuels
are still viable. I
want to know what's
going on with this
company. And that's
why I've got Andrew
Littlefair, the CEO
of
Clean Energy Fuels Corp.
(CLNE),
to talk about his
business...
Mr. Littlefair,
welcome back to Mad
Money...
[verbatim recap]
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Jim's comments AFTER
the interview:
Look, what can I
tell you?...
Everything's down.
He's got a thesis...
natural gas goes
down, he is a
winner. I think he's
a winner anyway. I
know that we've been
hurt, but he didn't
duck us. That's a
lot more than I can
say for most people.
Read Jim's next Segment
here
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