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Solar power is one of my top investing concepts for the years ahead. I think solar (along with other alternative energy sources) will gain increasing market share in the years ahead. As costs of fossil fuels rise, the still-high costs of solar power look less prohibitive, especially when various tax credits are factored in. The increase in manufactured volumes means costs are coming down, particularly for the manufacturers that don’t use silicon.

Cabot Benjamin Graham Value Letter, launched in 2003, uses the teachings of Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, in a system that safely builds long-lasting wealth. Unlike Cabot’s growth publications, the letter doesn’t use market timing, instead relying on a 76-year-old system, followed by investors such as billionaire Warren Buffett, to pick undervalued stocks and hold them as they reach a specified valuation.

Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens recently dropped a campaign to push for the adoption of wind power on a large scale because he’s in the process of building the word’s largest wind farm in the Taxes panhandle. When the oil barons start going Green, you’d better take notice. Today I’m going to evaluate some stocks that might benefit from this endeavor.

One of the most important investing lessons—letting winners run and cutting losses short—is often the downfall of investors. Many disobey this rule, leaving them with a portfolio of losing stocks. Novatel Wireless (a losing stock that had to be cut) and First Solar (a winning stock that’s been allowed to run) are used to illustrate this lesson.

The American economy is in a period of great transition, but just like the frog in the pot of water that’s being slowly heated, many people don’t appreciate the magnitude of the coming changes yet. There are tremendous investment opportunities out there for investors who are willing to embrace the future. This week, General Motors (NYSE: GM) stock hit a 25-year low. In the same week, Clean Harbors (Nasdaq: CLHB), hit an all-time high.

I’m a big believer in heroes. They remind us that something can be built from nothing, that victory can be snatched from the jaws of defeat, that we should aim high, and that we should never give up. One of my heroes, John Marks Templeton, passed away last week. John was a pure value investor, with a very long-term perspective and an appreciation of global markets.

The publication that would become Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report was first published in March 2004 under the name Cabot’s China Investor. The editors at Cabot saw the huge growth potential in China and it has paid off in the years since. In 2006, the name was changed to Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report and the publication expanded its focus to include other strong emerging markets.

Soaring gasoline prices. A weak job market. A higher grocery bill. A still-slumping housing market. All of these add up to one thing: lower consumer confidence. Even Warren Buffett thinks we are in a recession. The Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 57.2 in May, down from 62.8 in April. I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t need a report to tell me that consumer confidence is low.

Part of my job at Cabot is fielding emails from our Cabot Wealth Advisory subscribers, and one question I see quite often is, “What are the differences between Cabot’s publications?” I’m going to explain our newsletters, one at a time in an ongoing series. This is part one of the series, focusing on Cabot Market Letter, our flagship publication.

Prohibition led to the system of alcohol transport that persists today, a system dominated by distributors and the states, which are primarily concerned with taxation. This makes it difficult for small vineyards to ship wine around the country. On the investment front, my advice today is to put your money into one of the distributors. After all, they’ve got the power and you can benefit from it as an investor. But the distributor I like is not in the U.S.; it’s in Poland and Russia.

At the root of creative destruction, according to Joseph Schumpeter, are entrepreneurs, some laboring as individuals and some as employees of forward-looking firms, but all possessing a spirit of innovation that drives economic growth forward by improving on and “destroying” the old. And if the old is a hide-bound, monopolist entity or system that has long been a barrier to progress, so much the better.

We admire people with the courage of their convictions, those who know their own minds and don’t waver. It’s a good thing to be called tenacious, persistent, tough, steady or steadfast. A good thing, that is, if you’re not a growth stock investor. The rules say that growth investors should stick with a winning stock for as long as it rises. The problem comes when a stock starts to lose value but the investor has faith in the stock and demonstrates that conviction by holding it all the way to financial disaster.

Tribune Company recently sold Newsday, Long Island’s daily newspaper, to Cablevision, a cable, TV and Internet company headquartered on Long Island. While the future of the newspaper business remains uncertain, perhaps a company with considerable assets (Cablevision owns Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and the Rangers) can breathe some new life into it.

The high price of gasoline is one of the biggest concerns of Americans today. Everyone wants to know whether the price will decline, stay up here at $4 a gallon, or climb higher. Well, at Cabot, our very successful growth stock investing system works because we DON’T try to predict the future. Instead, we simply observe trends and invest on the expectation that they will continue.

We get a lot of questions from our subscribers, often the same question many times. So today we’re answering some of our most common inquiries. These are questions and comments that can help all investors better understand not just how we invest, but also some important principles that will quickly improve your skills.

Markets are always going up and down, and if you have a way to distinguish a real market move from random motion, you can be back in the market before most investors know that the bull is back in town. Right now, for instance, while most investors are still cowering under the covers, the market timing indicators for the Cabot Market Letter and the Cabot China & Emerging Markets Report are positive.

The moment of maximum hopelessness marks the start of the next bull market.

I have gone from great success to less success and back to great success (relatively speaking--I’m not able to compare myself to Warren Buffett--yet). The up, down, up cycle of life can be compared to many of the stocks that pop up as undervalued opportunities in my research analyses. I concentrate on companies with temporary setbacks, where management is taking action to correct the problem and get the company back on track.

Most investors, even those with lots of experience, usually do the wrong things and avoid the right things. And the reason isn’t because they’re dumb and I’m smart--it’s because the market is a totally contrary animal, so it works the exact opposite of how any intelligent, reasonable person would expect.

As for the market, my view is a bit split. I do believe that last week the market likely formed a major low. All the pieces were in place for one, and the big-volume rally, combined with the widespread fear and panic, tell me that some type of low was put in place. However, that doesn’t mean we’re now in a bull market. It’s likely that a few weeks or more of bottom-building will be needed. Giving evidence to that view is the nature of the nascent rally--so far, the only stocks making solid upside were the most beaten-down groups of the past few months.