BPI Energy Holdings Inc.

BPI Energy Holdings Inc. is an AMEX listed security that has been trading in a range between $0.45 and $1.65 over the past year. With 72,524,490 shares outstanding, a recent price of $0.70 gives a total market capitalization of $50,767,142. While there are certainly larger companies, BPI Energy Holdings Inc. has definitely earned its place in the pack. Last year, BPI Energy Holdings Inc. created $-0.12 in earnings for every share outstanding.

BPI Energy Holdings Inc. is currently priced by the market at 0.00 times last year’s earnings. Many trading multiples around the world are quite attractive these days, but don’t be fooled. A Price to Earnings ratio of 0 simply means that the security didn’t make any money last year.

With a share price under $50 a share and earnings per share below $1 a share, BPI Energy Holdings Inc. is unlikely to be an interesting value proposition.

DTE Energy Co.

DTE Energy Co. is among the world’s largest Multi-Utilities sector businesses in the world.  DTE Energy Co.’s employees generate $431.0M in profits on $9.117B of revenue.  Global output in the Multi-Utilities business will likely rise substantially over the next 10 years.  Long-term economic growth may lift all boats, but DTE Energy Co. is determined to remain a market leader.  Sectoral leadership in the Multi-Utilities segment takes dedication and consistency, but management seeks out-sized growth.

DTE Energy Co.’s ticker symbol DTE has recently been trading near $48.55 a share.  The DTE Energy Co. corporate headquarters in Detroit, MI predicts Multi-Utilities profits will satisfy shareholders in search of risk-appropriate returns.

The significance of market volume is sometimes ignored, but with a total market capitalization of $8.548B ensures sufficient liquidity.  With a beta of 0.47, the company is less volatile than the market as a whole.  When the average equity moves lower, DTE Energy Co. moves less aggressively.

Coal

The fuel that powered the industrial revolution is not typically put forward as the likely successor to today's oil-based economy. But in an energy-intensive economy trying desperately to free itself from foreign supply disruptions, coal is poised to play a central role in near-term energy production.

Nuclear energy has been effectively hamstrung by excessive regulation and an aggressive environmental movement. Wind and solar don't even offer a competitive price and suffer from reliability issues. With world oil production prone to disruptions from inaccessible, unstable foreign nations, coal offers a compelling alternative.

While "clean coal" is still a slogan rather than a reality, the basic technology is proven and the environmental trade-offs well-understood, if unsavory. The United States has massive supplies of coal that provide substantial independence from foreign entanglements. Just as importantly, China is also home to enormous reserves. And while the United States is still hoping for a miracle energy source, China is moving forward with an ambitious building spree. Putting a new coal-powered plant into service every week, China has already decided that the energy supply of its future will be coal.

Technology companies are fond of advertising their ability to offer tomorrow's business solutions today, but British Petroleum may need to change its ad campaign. The company likes to imagine that BP stands for "beyond petroleum", but the implication is all wrong. Biofuels and other alternative energy make for good public relations, but the simple truth is that coal is the most likely successor to oil.