Hydrogen: It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas!
Welcome to Reader Feedback day!
As usual, today is all about you, dear reader! Your questions. Your concerns. Your interestingly worded rants and lyrical requests … the works. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Oh, and if you haven’t written in yet, now’s your chance! Drop the Great Stuff team a line at GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com. You won’t regret it … probably.
Let’s kick off today’s edition of Reader Feedback with an intriguing email about hydrogen:
Implicit in your commentary is your view that these are the real answers for the future and not just trucks. While I am not certain, it seems to me that the life expectancy of these greatly exceeds that of batteries. If this is the case, then they become less costly over the long term.
Are there other attractive investments in this technology? Do you like Plug Power?
— Fran N.
Thank you for writing in Fran! Even though it was at 10 a.m. this morning (in Kentucky time, that is). Gutsy move, but you made it! And you’re getting featured no less. So much for the early bird getting the worm.
Great Ones, I’ll let you in on a little secret: Hydrogen is the future of clean energy.
I mean, it powers the stars for Pete’s sake!
Don’t believe me? Do you believe Bank of America? How about Goldman Sachs? Or Morgan Stanley?
But what about electric vehicles? What about batteries? What about Tesla?
Think about it. Why do Tesla Inc.’s (Nasdaq: TSLA) electric vehicles (EVs) need batteries? They need to store electricity, right?
Hydrogen doesn’t need a battery. Hydrogen fuel cells don’t need to be plugged in. Hydrogen-powered equipment doesn’t need a coal-burning power plant.
Hydrogen is the power plant.
We’ll use EVs as an example. You could replace the massive batteries in EVs with hydrogen fuel cells and still have the same vehicle. All that hydrogen fuel cell does is create electricity for the electric motors driving the car.
No plugging in, just pull into the hydrogen station and fill up.
With some technology upgrades and modifications, you could even utilize the existing gasoline distribution network. No need for building out massive networks of charging stations.
Furthermore, since hydrogen can be used in power plants to generate electricity, Elon Musk’s future Teslas could be indirectly hydrogen-powered anyway. How’s that for “mind-bogglingly stupid,” Mr. “Fool Cells?”
Of course, Musk will make fun of hydrogen. He’s deeply invested in battery technology. Hydrogen fuel cells make “Battery Day” look like a fool’s errand.
Now, you can make fun of Nikola Inc.’s (Nasdaq: NKLA) Trevor Milton all you want (Please, make fun of him!), but there’s a reason why the company’s hydrogen plans generated so much buzz.
It’s the same reason why Daimler will go with hydrogen fuel cell tech in its new long-haul semitrucks. The same reason that Airbus is developing hydrogen-powered airplanes.
This efficiency and ease of use is why Bank of America et al. valued the hydrogen market at $11 trillion by 2050.
Will you just answer the question Mr. Great Stuff? Are there other attractive investments in this technology?
You realize I couldn’t just give you the milk? Then you wouldn’t want the cow … so to speak. So, here are my top investments for the $11 trillion hydrogen market:
1. Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq: PLUG): This company has it all. Power plant-level technology and portable fuel cell tech.
GenDrive is a fuel cell system for vehicles. GenFuel is a hydrogen fueling delivery, generation and storage system. If you’re betting on hydrogen power, PLUG is where you want to be.
2. Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI): Yes, this is mainly a diesel engine company. However, Cummins sees the writing on the wall. It knows that diesel’s days are limited.
Instead of pursuing “traditional” EVs and powertrains for semitrucks, Cummins is going the hydrogen route. It knows that battery-powered EVs don’t have the power to compete in weather extremes in long-haul trucking, and it’s developing solutions for that purpose — with hydrogen.
3. NextEra Energy Inc. (NYSE: NEE): If you’re looking for a hydrogen investment that’s already at the “power plant” level, NextEra Energy is it.
The company specializes in renewable energy, with everything from solar, wind, nuclear and yes, hydrogen. If any company will pipe electricity generated by hydrogen power to your home, it’ll be NextEra.
So, there you have it: Great Stuff’s great investing idea for the next three decades is hydrogen power.
But, why haven’t you recommended buying any of these stocks in Great Stuff Picks?
Have you seen the market right now? Bloated on Fed stimulus, overextended and out of touch with reality?
If you have the stomach for the rough ride we’re in for, sure, go ahead and buy all three stocks listed above. They all will be higher than they are right now … eventually.
But me? I’ll wait until prices come down and the market regains its senses. In addition to better returns, I’ll save a lot on bottles of Mylanta as well.
Of course, if you’re itching to buy something today and can’t wait another molecule-separating minute…
Look no further for the one alternative energy play to rule them all. Click here!
Now, let’s get to the rest of the Great Stuff inbox. If you haven’t written in yet, drop us a line at GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com. We don’t bite … unless you ask nicely.
I know you, reader, are gonna miss Feedback when you’re gone.
I laid down last night, and I could not take my rest. My mind was wandering … like the wild geese in the west. See, it’s not just you who gets amped up for Reader Feedback day!
First things first, thank you to each and every one of you who wrote in. Yes, even the invites to join your family Google account, Shein. I can think of nary a finer or more flattering gesture in this our virtual world … I guess?
Now let’s have those October winds (and your emails) blow all my troubles away!
Free Your Mind and Your Tax Will Follow
Let’s talk about 1040s. Let’s talk about all the deductions, and the credits, that you can see!
I can’t help but laugh at all the faux outrage directed at a certain you-know-who, who shall remain nameless. EVERY red-blooded American seeks to maximize deductions at tax time to maintain as much of their wealth as possible.
If you’re not doing that, you’re not doing it right. It seems to me that the outrage stems from the fact that some just do it better than others.
The tax code has been written, for decades, to benefit the entrepreneurs and risk takers to fuel ingenuity in the name of progress. I find it interesting that those who seem to scream the loudest have been in position to “fix” the tax code for decades, but that would mean they would close “loopholes” from which they themselves benefit.
Just the tax, ma’am.
— Mike B.
“Everyday” Americans struggle to pay taxes each and every year. Few of us have a pack of lawyers helping us avoid them. We’re contributors to our society, remember — not suckers for doing our share.
C’mon America, you’re still in there somewhere — keep shining a light on that topic.
— Linda M.
What, you thought we’d get through the week without talkin’ tax again?
After we debated taxes and even more taxing debates, reading our inbox was like diving headfirst into a sulfurous spring of hot takes and spit takes. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. Thanks for dropping some heat, Mike and Linda. Behold: a quick hit for each of you.
Mike, you’re dropping some real truth there. But we can’t be going around spoiling the illusion and lifting the Oz curtain all willy-nilly like that. (Riiiight…) If the cryptic, unnamed “they” don’t start the faux outrage conversation, “they’d” look more complicit, no? Bingo bango bongo, your tax loophole is gonzo!
Linda, thank you for showing the underdog fight … and it really shouldn’t be considered a plight to contribute to society, as you say. Nonetheless, thank you for contributing your email!
I don’t have a pack of tax lawyers, either. But there’s no need for that when you have a code-sleuthing tax virtuoso like Ted Bauman in your back pocket. Elites-only loopholes? No such thing.
From Tax Fights to Tush Bites
I love you guys and look forward to receiving your emails as you tell it like it is. Sorry to say your note of today is going to bite you in the TUSH very, very badly.
The entire real estate industry may well bring down our entire economy and your suggestion to purchase real estate REITS simply for their yields is wrong, wrong, wrong. The R.E. market will totally collapse in the near future, and unlike airlines and cruise ships will be years as to rectifying, so shame on you this time…
— Richard Z.
You ever get so fearful about the market you write off an entire asset class? Richard, I say this half in jest … and the other half also in jest.
Yes, real estate as a whole will face a reckoning. Depending where you look, it already has. But not all real estate is created equal — and neither are the real estate investment trusts (REITs) therein.
There are obvious no-go spots in the market that you’d have to be the shrewdest of value investors to pick through for long-term REITs. The retail apocalypse comes to mind. Office space? Watch out for your cornhole, bud.
But REITs where the underlying business is relatively — and this is the keyword here — pandemic resistant, taking part in long-term tech trends and whatnot…
And hey, what’s wrong with yields?! Yield worked out fine for Pearl Jam (or not). Anyway, don’t knock the importance of having a source of investment income you can rely on … even when life gets unpredictable.
I don’t blame you if you need a hand choosing between a juicy peach of a REIT and a rotten apple. That’s why we have — hey, look who it is again! — Mr. Ted Bauman.
America Eats Its Young
RED AND WHITE, BLUE SUEDE SHOES. I’M THE DOW AVERAGE, HOW DO YOU DO?
I GUESS I BELIEVE IN THE EDDIE MURPHY TRADING STRATEGY.
NO MONEY… JOHNNY DOESN’T GET HIS G.I. JOE WITH THE KUNG FU GRIP…
NO CONSUMERISM OH WELL, THANKS FOR PLAYING CONGRESS.
P.S. YOU REALLY GOT ME WITH WHEN DOVES CRY.
— Dave S.
Dave, I read you loud and clear, no need to shout. I wanted to highlight your crack of creativity because it’s not often that Eddie Murphy reminds me of, well, Dodd-Frank finance regulations.
If you and your fellow Trading Places fans didn’t know, the brothers Duke got a shout-out in the wishful thinking called the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act because of the movie’s short-selling lunacy.
All hail the Eddie Murphy Rule, which set out “to ban insider trading using nonpublic information misappropriated from a government source.”
One short selling tactic down, a million more to go.
Proggy Patti
Very much enjoying your witty and informative newsletter or whatever it is; just love the music quotes — MUCH OF THE LYRICAL QUOTES, I KNOW ahem!!
So my suggestions are odd: TRex, Procol Harum, Jethro Tull. There, I finally sent something in. You ask for us to join in every week, but this week I just couldn’t resist!
Keep Truckin’ 😀
— Patti, who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Thanks for your suggestions, Patti! I, too, like me some Jethro Tull. Now to figure out how to work a flute solo into Great Stuff? Hmm…
If you don’t know what Patti’s talking about, you might’ve missed our past few issues, where we called on you — the virtual Great Stuff deejays — to suggest songs or bands to riff on. Let us know your most-wished-for lyrical theme at GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com.
It’s like an updated version of Total Request Live … with better music. Usually.
Great Stuff: Another Great Week … Gone!
Well … almost. Don’t forget to tune in to tomorrow’s Friday Four Play!
Thanks again to Mike, Linda, Richard, Dave, Patti and everyone else who wrote in. We deeply appreciate it … even if we can’t include all of your geopolitical and nonsensical rants here. A socially distant fist bump goes out to you instead!
GreatStuffToday@BanyanHill.com is your home and hearth … for market questions, investing lessons and all-around wholesome tomfoolery. We’ll catch up with you in our next installment of Reader Feedback!
Of course, you can also follow along with social media too: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Until next time, be Great!
Joseph Hargett
Editor, Great Stuff
