The Power and the Story: Breaking Down the Alternative Energy Plays

So, new power's the next new new thing. But will the end of the story be the old old nightmare?

Other Junk

The Junkie's Perfect Fund Portfolio

eBay Can't Carry Net Funds

Fund Firms Bet Alternative Energy is the Next Boom

Seems everyone's mad, mad, mad for this investing theme these days and that's understandable. Silicon Valley gurus are working by oil lamp and CNBC's talking heads are gushing over alternative energy stocks' gains. Two weeks ago we told you fund shops were jumping on the bandwagon with a gush of "new power" or "energy tech" funds bursting from their product pipelines.

Let's take a closer look at why everyone's jazzed, and where these funds will be investing. Although most of these companies have a utilities or energy label, they aren't for widows and orphans. In fact, some are "story stocks" -- unprofitable companies with a great story or concept that has made them Wall Street darlings -- which lends them an eerie similarity to now-fallen Net angels. ...