canberra times

STOCKS TO WATCH with Tom Ellison
Sunday, 18 October 2009 | Canberra Times | By The Canberra Times

KUTh Energy (KEN) $0.15 watchEVERYBODY loves a good Powerpoint presentation. It's a wonderful program a friend of mine used it to educate her then boyfriend last year on the pros and cons of continuing their relationship. Now, geothermal energy outfit KUTh has released its AGM Powerpoint presentation to the market. Despite the fact the opening schematic meant to represent the Earth's mantle looks more like the eyeball of a rock star on an OxyContin binge, KUTh remains one of the more promising renewable energy prospects. Perhaps one day, the company will be raking in the dollars, selling base-load energy into the Australian grid. Right now, though, they are an $8 million business, pretty much reliant on government renewable energy handouts to remain afloat. Still, it's an interesting company, and well worth keeping an eye on.Neptune Marine Services (NMS) $0.83 speculative buyIN MY Year 8 metalwork class, I tried my hand at welding. As I recall, the trowel I inexpertly made snapped the first time it was put to use. Much cleverer are the people at Neptune, who announced during the week that they can weld stuff at 70m under the ocean floor. I'm not even going to attempt to understand the technology behind it, but with a growing list of customers in the oil and gas industry across the globe, the company's prospects look bright. The 2009 financials were one of the best released this year, and management seems optimistic that the growth path has only just begun. I'm looking forward to great things in years to come. Gunns Limited (GNS) $1.175 avoidTHE POLITICS of business is getting messy. First we had the coal industry trying to tell people that coal can be clean, and now we have woodchipper Gunns telling us that wiping out swathes of old-growth forest is greenhouse-friendly. According to a full-page advertisement published last week by the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania (which is largely funded by Gunns), hacking down 300-year-old eucalypts and building things can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is claimed forestry is more environmentally friendly than leaving those nasty old rainforests alone. Trouble is, only a tiny proportion of the timber stripped from Tasmania's native forests is used for construction the rest is shipped overseas as woodchips. Let's hope Gunns' comments about the environmental impact of its proposed pulp mill are more transparently honest than some of the propaganda being distributed at the moment.

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