Leading Wall Street Water Analyst Neil Berlant (Pt. 3 of 4) - Check Out Desalination Firms Energy Recovery, Consol. Water
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Leading Wall Street water analyst Neil D. Berlant doesn’t like to recommend specific companies that he thinks will do well in the coming era of rapidly-rising water costs. But during a nearly three-hour interview with EnergyTechStocks.com, Berlant, who manages the PFW Water Fund (Symbol: PFWAX), came close, agreeing to name companies he sees as “representative” of the firms that should do well, continuing with:
Energy Recovery Inc. and Consolidated Water Co. Ltd., both of which trade on NASDAQ.
California-based Energy Recovery was the second of three companies discussed by Berlant that really seemed to excite him as an investment manager. To be sure, Energy Recovery’s stock got roughed up when the company, which went public in July, reported that while its second quarter was profitable, its third quarter outlook was less than stellar.
Berlant made a point of telling EnergyTechStocks.com that present stock prices should not be a critical factor in investors’ judgment on a particular company. He then emphasized that Energy Recovery “clearly has superior equipment,” equipment which, as EnergyTechStocks.com reported last month, appears to have the potential to make desalination a cost-effective way to provide clean fresh water to many of the billions of people in the world expected to suffer from water shortages and contamination within the next couple of decades. Specifically, Energy Recovery’s more efficient use of electricity for desalination reportedly is a 50% improvement over current methods. (For more see Who’s The Next Google? Meet 8 Contenders (4 Public, 4 Private Firms) 1st Two: Energy Recovery & Konarka)
Based in the Cayman Islands, Consolidated Water has “some true uniqueness,” according to Berlant. This uniqueness, he explained, is primarily geographical. The company has a leadership position in providing desalinated water to Caribbean countries. Berlant emphasized that because Consolidated owns the water infrastructure connecting plants to islands’ residents, it has a valuable asset that would have to be bought should the company ever lose its existing contracts. Earlier this month, Consolidated Water reported a 34% year-over-year increase in second quarter revenue but a 24% decline in profit due to a loss recorded for the company’s equity interest in an affiliate.
Coming Tomorrow, August 22, Part 4 – 2 Water Purification Companies Involved in Healthcare, Plus a Look at the Merger and Acquisition Potential of Water-Related Companies
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