Out Fox The $treet

Summary Clean Energy continues struggling to make financial progression. The company runs a low-margin business, but it continues to sell investors on a "concept". The stock remains a momentum story that investors should exit when the recent run ends. The stock of Clean Energy Fuels (NASDAQ: CLNE ) made an incredible run over the last few months on what appears more momentum than reality. The company missed Q1 estimates and again pushed the quarterly loss back to the $0.30 level. Amazingly the stock didn't sell off on this news. In addition, investors appear to have mostly brushed aside the scathing report from The Street Sweeper. The stock is amazingly close to the highs for the year. Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

In what has become a quarterly tradition, Clean Energy ( CLNE ) reported Q413 results that generally disappointed the market. With the promise of the new Cummins ( CMI ) - Westport ( WPRT ) 12-liter engine opening up the long haul, heavy-duty truck markets, investors had long expected an earnings call by early 2014 to contain some outlandish growth figures and expectations. Instead, the company delivered more promises of a developing market while providing little actual results. Along with Westport Innovations, Clean Energy offers investors potential huge returns from developing natural gas as a transportation fuel in the refuse, airport, and trucking industries, yet the end results are continued losses. At the same time, Tesla Motors ( TSLA ) has greatly revolutionized the electric car market, pushing the stock to the stratosphere. Ironically, more issues exist with a electrical vehicle that still uses a coal based power generation system and limited charging option...

In a couple of recent art icles ( I , II ) it wa s presented that Clean Energy Fuels ( CLNE ) had sharks circling for the great demise of a failing provider of natural gas for transportation fuel. While the stories provide tons of details regarding a market preference for compressed natural gas, or CNG, the articles fall far short in explaining that Clean Energy already has a focus on CNG. The big point of the articles was the flawed build out of America's Natural Gas Highway (ANGH) based on liquefied natural gas, or LNG. While possible, investors need to remember that Clean Energy is the leader in both CNG and LNG with no preference in the fuel to use other than economics. Did it leverage the business on a flawed concept or is it possible that competitors in the fueling industry lack the same level of knowledge and made mistakes? Interested parties should review the video from Clean Energy discussing the reason for choosing LNG for the highway network and review ...

After another news release, Clean Energy Fuels ( CLNE ) again appears setup for a big run yet the stock continues to languish around $12. The largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America offers catalysts that could push the stock on a huge run in 2014. Most investors are still concerned that the 'hype' won't ever be met with reality. Clean Energy falls into a group of stocks set to benefit from the abundant supplies of natural gas that have led to a glut of the cheap fuel. Other stocks including Cheniere Energy ( LNG ) and Westport Innovations ( WPRT ) are building products that benefit from this cheap energy source. Oddly these stocks continue to diverge though all are still in the process of proving out their respective business plans. In fact, none of the three stocks is even expected to be profitable next year making the divergence perplexing. Considering the huge gains in Cheniere, Clean Energy could be set up for a strong...

For investors that only read the earnings headlines, a ton of additional information can usually be gleaned from the related conference calls. For those interested in the development of the natural gas transportation fuel market, Clean Energy Fuels ( NASDAQ: CLNE     ) happens to be one of the better providers of useful numbers. The leader in providing both CNG and LNG transportation fueling solutions in North America typically loads up the earnings call with numerous useful numbers. The numbers range from the development of the Cummins ( NYSE: CMI     ) – Westport ( NASDAQ: WPRT     ) engines to margins per gallon to trucking fleets transitioning to natural gas for fuel. Read the full article here . Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

After another quarterly report, Westport Innovations ( WPRT ) had mixed results with good news for longs and bad news for shorts. Any investor checking back into the story after an absence should realize that since the last earnings release, the much-anticipated Cummins ( CMI ) - Westport , or CWI, joint venture's 400HP 12-liter engine hit production and the company completed a secondary offering to raise cash. The combination of news items sets the company up for positive results in the future. Unfortunately, the leader of natural gas engines didn't provide details on the earnings report that helped the stock, though it shouldn't be hurt that bad either. The lack of details regarding CWI growth and the continued focus on new development projects again left the investment community with concerns about profitability. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No position mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

On Tuesday, Piper Jaffray made the Clean Energy Fuels ( CLNE ) stock its top sell through 2014 based on several reasons that don't add up. The firm also lowered the target price to $4.50 from $9.50. Considering the stock was trading around $13, the research report naturally caused the stock to absolutely plunge the following day. The company is a leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America. It builds and operates compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations. Note that the company's description absolutely lists CNG as a fuel it sells. This fact will come into play as we deconstruct the analyst call. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Very few scenarios occur where a stock drops due to an event that's a major positive for new investors. A secondary stock offering can be harmful to existing shareholders, but new investors get the advantage of a stronger balance sheet or a major insider reducing a position possibly overhanging the stock. In the case of Westport Innovations ( WPRT ), the company is busy developing technology to take advantage of the switch to engines that can use the suddenly abundant and cheap natural gas supplies. In fact, a joint venture with Cummins ( CMI ) recently released the much hyped 12L engine needed for regional-haul trucks that don't daily return to the base of operations. As recently detailed in Westport: Joint Ventures Hide Major Catalysts , the release of this engine is one of several major catalysts that should propel the stock higher with one major catch at that point. That catch just happened to be the cash burn questions that he company solves in this offe...

Small Cap Insight In the past, Clean Energy Fuels ( CLNE ) was a stock to be bearish on as the company developed America s Natural Gas Highway while the trucks needed to fill up at those fueling stations weren't in production yet. Conversely, the company wasn't able to open numerous LNG fueling stations and the quarterly numbers for the firm were not overly impressive. The concept was something that investors could get behind, but investing is about finding ones that make financial sense and this was one didn't at the start. The company is the leading provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America. It builds and operates compressed natural gas (CNG) and LNG fueling stations Read the full article on Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: No positions mentioned. Please review the disclaimer page for more details. 

Small Cap Insight After disappointing revenue guidance for the remaining of 2013, Westport Innovations ( WPRT ) slumped 11% to start August. This placed the stock back at a level originally reached in late 2011 on the back of the hype of natural gas as a transportation fuel for the trucking industry. With low domestic natural gas prices and plenty of supplies, the maker of engines that use natural gas stands at the intersection of huge potential and dwindling stock support. The confusing part about the Westport situation is that the vast majority of the promising future of the company is tied up in two major joint ventures (JVs). These businesses are booming with promising developments, yet the ownership percentage prevents the loading of the revenue into the financials. The rareness of this situation appeared to even have the analysts confused on the earnings call . The typical question focused on the honestly unimportant revenue of the 100% owned business units. Re...

Another company hoping to benefit from abundant and cheap supplies of natural gas in North America is Westport Innovations, Inc. (WPRT) . As previously noted, Clean Energy (CLNE) and Cheniere Energy (LNG) are also exploring ways to benefit from the current market dynamics favoring the users of the fuel. Westport is a global supplier of proprietary solutions that allow engines to operate on clean-burning fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas, hydrogen, and renewable natural gas (RNG) fuels. Westport expects to end 2012 with greater than 50% revenue growth, though the company expects to still generate losses even into 2013. All signs point to a strong future as US and China demand surges, yet the stock continues to show weakness. Read the full article at Seeking Alpha. Disclosure: Long CLNE. Please review the disclaimer page for more details.