Cannacord Adams: "The Earth Day Stocks to Watch" (NAL : TO; NLC; NCS; RBCN)

From Greentech:

With the arrival of Earth Day today, many investors might be asking how they can do the right thing for the planet and still make a good investment.

The analysts comprising Canaccord Adams' sustainability practice, of which I am a part, provided insight on four companies that do exactly that: exploit green markets and offer substantial upside potential, in their opinion.

Our research team believes the following four companies are leading beneficiaries of underlying trends focused on resource optimization and conservation:

Nalco (NLC: NYSE : $25.61 | BUY) capitalizes on climate change and water scarcity. I believe Nalco is fundamentally undervalued given powerful long-term secular global growth drivers including climate change and water scarcity. With a core competency in water treatment technology and an emerging presence in multi-pollutant air emission control, we continue to find the company uniquely positioned to benefit from an increasing focus on environmental impacts, while also providing critical productivity and process optimization solutions.

Rubicon Technology (RBCN : NASDAQ : $25.98 | BUY, Best Idea) is a leading supplier of materials required for the manufacture of energy-efficient LED lighting. My colleague, Jed Dorsheimer, who covers the company, says, "The company is a leading supplier of sapphire substrates to the LED market, with 25% market share based on our estimates. In our view, sapphire has become the clear bottleneck in the LED market based on the massive order trends over the past year of MOCVD tools, which is expected to continue.">>>MORE