The Environment, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) investment theme is predicted to drive as much as $67 trillion in investment flows over the next decade, according to research from Morgan Stanley. This estimate leverages what may be the most powerful long-term force driving finance over the next ten years.
In essence, capital is to be passed from Boomers to Millennials and Zoomers, with an associated shift in sensibilities and thematic focus.
And this process is already well underway.
For the new market world, companies can entice capital by making the case that their operations are positive for the world. This might be a case about environmental sustainability, it might be a pledge to have a positive socially conscious impact, it might be about highly transparent and responsible governance, or it could be all three.
That’s why global ESG assets under management grew from $6 billion in 2015 to $150 billion in 2020, and continue to skyrocket today and into the future.
This is a factor set to drive markets in a defining manner over multiple investment time horizons given its significance for both the supply of capital and the demand for more sustainable solutions to existing needs.
Some of the key stocks to watch in this process include: Blink Charging Co (NASDAQ:BLNK), Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH), Maison Luxe Inc (OTCMKTS:MASN), Stem Inc (NYSE:STEM), Invesco Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN), and First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF (NYSEARCA:FAN).
With that in mind, we take a look at some interesting developments in the group.
Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) styles itself as a global energy technology company, delivers smart, easy-to-use solutions that manage solar generation, storage and communication on one intelligent platform.
The Company revolutionized the solar industry with its microinverter-based technology and produces a fully integrated solar-plus-storage solution. Enphase has shipped more than 34 million microinverters, and approximately 1.5 million Enphase-based systems have been deployed in more than 130 countries.
Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) most recently announced Palomar Solar, a leading Southern California solar energy installation company, expanded its Enphase Storage business and made valuable contributions to the companies’ long-standing collaboration on home energy technology and new-product testing and feedback.
“We value the close-knit working relationship with the business and technical teams at Enphase, and I believe they have the best solar technology in the world and continue to work for the benefit of both companies,” said Andy Anderson, owner and founder of Palomar Solar and Roofing. “To ensure that we can provide maximum value to our homeowners, we have integrated Enphase Storage with our full suite of customer services. With Enphase Storage, we have experienced a surge in demand from customers.”
And the stock has been acting well over recent days, up something like 11% in that time. Shares of the stock have powered higher over the past month, rallying roughly 24% in that time on strong overall action.
Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) generated sales of $301.8M, according to information released in the company’s most recent quarterly financial report. That adds up to a sequential quarter-over-quarter growth rate of 13.9% on the top line. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels far exceeding current liabilities ($1.5B against $344.5M).
Maison Luxe Inc (OTCMKTS:MASN) is a particularly interesting addition to this list due to its investment holding, Aether Diamonds, which has proprietary IP protecting its specialized carbon negative diamond production process. It is the world’s first and only carbon negative lab-grown diamond producer.
Aside from its Aether investment, MASN offers luxury retail consumer items that are responsibly sourced and affordable. The Company operates as a niche high-end luxury goods retailer, helping interested consumers obtain rare luxury items that may otherwise not be reliably available due to the nature of the luxury retail marketplace.
Maison Luxe Inc (OTCMKTS:MASN) put out an update on its Aether investment holding, noting that Aether has been ramping up its production over recent months after fielding more than $2.5 million in pre-orders. For every carat of diamond sold, Aether permanently removes 20 metric tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere.
“We continue to be extremely excited about Aether and believe it has a tremendous future in an extremely powerful niche in the global gemstone marketplace,” commented Anil Idnani, CEO of Maison Luxe.
Idnani continued, “We look forward to updated information over coming days about Aether’s exciting progress. We have tremendous confidence in the Aether team and their ability to execute on this important vision. The diamond mining industry has been broadly responsible for more than its share of damage over the decades, in both social and environmental terms. The lab-grown diamond industry has been pushing back against this trend. But Aether is really the only player capable of a truly game-changing shift in that narrative.”
Maison Luxe Inc (OTCMKTS:MASN) powered to multi-million-dollar sales last year after launching. The company’s announcements thus far in 2021 suggest that pace is being met and likely exceeded as the world reopens and the luxury goods market thrives in a sea of savings and stimulus. In addition, the company is well-positioned for the ESG theme given its investment exposure to the only clear ESG-qualifying diamond producer in the world.
Stem Inc (NYSE:STEM) bills itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven clean energy storage services. The company provides solutions that address the challenges of today’s dynamic energy market. By combining advanced energy storage solutions with Athena, a world-class AI-powered analytics platform, Stem enables customers and partners to optimize energy use by automatically switching between battery power, onsite generation, and grid power.
Stem’s solutions help enterprise customers benefit from a clean, adaptive energy infrastructure and achieve a wide variety of goals, including expense reduction, resilience, sustainability, environmental and corporate responsibility, and innovation. Stem also offers full support for solar partners interested in adding storage to standalone, community or commercial solar projects – both behind and in front of the meter.
Stem Inc (NYSE:STEM) recently announced that the Company has entered into an agreement to provide smart energy storage services to Altus Power America, Inc. (“Altus Power”), a market-leading clean electrification company that develops, owns, and operates renewable energy assets in Massachusetts and throughout the United States.
John Carrington, Chief Executive Officer of Stem, commented, “Throughout Stem’s history, we have successfully managed thousands of grid dispatches and tens of thousands of market responses to support energy reliability for our partners and their customers. Our expertise in demand response and advanced technology with our Athena™ AI smart energy storage platform makes it easy for our partners like Altus Power to leverage our capabilities to deliver reliable and efficient energy to their customers while enhancing project returns. We are excited to expand our footprint in the rapidly growing Massachusetts marketplace and will continue to enable smart storage in other geographies as markets evolve in the US and abroad.”
Stem Inc (NYSE:STEM) shares have been moving higher over the past week overall, pushing about 4% to the upside on above average trading volume. Shares of the stock have powered higher over the past month, rallying roughly 66% in that time on strong overall action.
