A Huge Start for the Nanotech Earnings Season

A Huge Start for the Nanotech Earnings Season
By Jeff Clark
February 08, 2007

A tiny sector got a huge boost yesterday…

Shares of FEI Corp. (FEIC) jumped 27% higher on Wednesday after reporting better-than-expected earnings. As you can see from the chart below, it's the latest in a string of new highs for the stock, up 70% since August.

FEIC is a large component of the PowerShares Nanotech ETF (PXN), which just happens to be one of the four nanotechnology positions I've recommended to subscribers of The Big Trend Report. So of course, we had a nice pop in the portfolio yesterday.

FEIC is a "picks and shovels" play on nanotechnology. The company manufactures microscopes… but not the kind you and I used back in high-school chemistry class. These are high-powered electron microscopes that enable scientists to examine objects as small as one-billionth of a meter.

And what exactly are the scientists looking at under those high-powered microscopes?

They're looking at nanotubes and buckyballs – cylindrical and soccer-ball shaped formations of carbon atoms, which just happen to be manufactured and sold by another Big Trend portfolio holding. Odds are pretty good we'll see another nice surprise when this company reports earnings next Tuesday.

The stellar results from FEIC confirm that companies are spending more and more money on nanotechnology. And the boom is just beginning.

There's no guarantee that all companies in the sector will follow FEIC's lead and blow away analysts' expectations. But earnings surprises on Wall Street are kind of like rabbits. If you put a couple of them together, then pretty soon you have a whole colony.

We'll be hearing earnings reports from a lot more nanotechnology companies over the next few weeks. If investors' reactions are anything like what we saw with FEIC, then it'll pay well to be in on the trade ahead of time.

Best regards and good trading,

Jeff Clark

China's Enormous Energy Upgrades
China's soaring economic growth has been headlined in recent years by a single, attention-grabbing statistic: China each year adds new power generating capacity equal to the UK's entire electricity grid.

But China surpassed this benchmark last year, according to new figures released quietly at the end of January by the China Electric Power News, the mouthpiece of the state industry.

The paper reported that new power capacity in 2006 had expanded by 102 gigawatts, or roughly equal to the entire capacity of the UK and Thailand combined, or about twice the generating assets of California, the state with the biggest economy in the US. FT ($) Read on…

Senate Panel Investigating Traders' Manipulation of Gas Markets
The Senate Energy Committee is investigating whether futures traders are manipulating markets that set natural-gas prices for consumers, farmers and industries.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the panel's chairman, has sent letters to two federal market regulators, asking them what they know about unusual price fluctuations that may have taken place, which could have the effect of artificially raising indexes used to establish market prices for natural gas. WSJ ($) Read on…

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Aerospace and defense companies Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Rockwell Collins all hit new highs.

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Mining stocks continue to march higher… Silver Standard, Cleveland Cliffs, Southern Copper, and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce at new highs.

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Country-specific ETFs at new highs: Belgium, Malaysia, Netherlands, Spain, France, Singapore, Mexico.

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Earnings today: Bunge, Oakley, and Waste Management.

Last Change 52-Wk

S&P 500 1451.29 0.23% 15.66%

Oil (USO)* 48.36 -1.73% -28.71%

Gold (GLD) 64.69 -0.15% 18.48%

Silver (SLV)* 136.00 -0.07% -1.53%

US Dollar 84.71 -0.06% -6.11%

Euro 1.301 0.23% 8.72%

VIX 10.65 0.95% -18.33%

HUI 334.64 0.33% -2.12%

10-year yield 4.77% -0.04 0.22

* Since ETF inception

Company	Sym	Industry
BASF	BF	chemicals
Dominos	DPZ	pizza
Enel SpA	EN	utilities
CIGNA	CI	healthcare
T. Rowe Price	TROW	mutual funds
AutoZone	AZO	auto parts
Diamonds Trust	DIA	Dow ETF
United States Steel	X	steel
Eaton Vance	EV	asset mgmt
NTT DoCoMo	DCM	Japan telecom
Infosys	INFY	outsourcing
Aeropostale	ARO	clothing
Cummins	CMI	diesel
Xerox	XRX	business equip
Boston Properties	BXP	office REIT
Rockwell Collins	COL	aerospace
Kroger	KR	grocery stores
Ameriprise Financial	AMP	asset mgmt
Silver Standard	SSRI	silver
Nike	NKE	athletic apparel
Constellation Energy	CEG	utilities
Albemarle	ALB	chemicals
E.ON	EON	utilities
Men's Wearhouse	MW	clothing
Hanson plc	HAN	building materials
Corus	CGA	steel
Raytheon	RTN	aerospace
Honeywell	HON	aerospace
Imperial Tobacco	ITY	cigarettes
AK Steel	AKS	steel
Chaparral Steel	CHAP	steel
CROCS	CROX	shoes
Southern Copper	PCU	metals
American Tower	AMT	phone towers
Fuel-Tech	FTEK	pollution control
HRPT Properties	HRP	REIT
Target	TGT	retail
Big Lots	BIG	discount retail
Sangamo	SGMO	biotech
INVESTools	IEDU	education
Lockheed Martin	LMT	aerospace
Moody's	MCO	credit services
British Am Tobacco	BTI	cigarettes
MetLife	MET	insurance
News Corp	NWS	entertainment
Comp Vale do Rio	RIO	steel
Rick's Cabaret	RICK	strip clubs
Cleveland Cliffs	CLF	iron ore

Company	Sym	Industry
BP Prudhoe Bay	BPT	oil trust
Nevada Gold & Casino	UWN	casinos
Actions Semi	ACTS	semiconductors