Coming Week: Alternative Ideas

The fund manager is wary of corn-based ethanol plays such as VeraSun Energy (VSE Quote) because of rising corn prices, but is bullish and long Environmental Power Group (EPG Quote), which owns and operates renewable energy production facilities; he believes the stock will benefit if President Bush does return to the alternative energy theme.

Another option for those seeking exposure is the PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (PBW Quote) ETF, whose largest holdings can be found here.

Whatever alt-energy vehicle you prefer, don't wait until after Bush's speech Tuesday night if you want to make a bet on the SOU. The folks on Wall Street are already lining up their proverbial ducks.

One final thought on energy investing comes from Ken Fisher, CEO of Fisher Investments, a $35 billion investment management firm.

"You want right now to look at energy and say to yourself: What would not do badly if energy prices go down but do well if energy prices go up, and what would not do badly if energy prices went up but do really well if energy prices go down, and put those two together," Fisher said in an interview on TheStreet.com TV Friday.

Saying "the set is stronger than the individual pieces," he prefers StatOil (STO Quote) in the former category and Agrium (AGU Quote) in the latter, calling it a "reverse energy play" and citing the "negative correlations" between the two. Fisher's firm is currently long both stocks.

Please note that due to factors including low market capitalization and/or insufficient public float, we consider Environmental Power Group, DayStar Technologies and Hoku Scientific to be small-cap stocks. You should be aware that such stocks are subject to more risk than stocks of larger companies, including greater volatility, lower liquidity and less publicly available information, and that postings such as this one can have an effect on their stock prices.